


As I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

by PurpleNightSong



Series: A journey of a thousand times [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Fear, Flashbacks, Half-Human, Half-monster, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jealousy, Longing, Love, Love/Hate, M/M, Magic-Users, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Sibling Love, Time Magic, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:12:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 98,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7091020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleNightSong/pseuds/PurpleNightSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years I have been in the grip of my mother and her husband Derek. Seven years I've been separated from the one I once called my soulmate. I'm slowly falling apart as Derek makes me bend time at his will - the only one keeping me floating is my little brother, and my friend Rick.</p><p>What will happen to me as the monsters I once called my family, moves to the same city as me? How can I face them when I have all these sins crawling up my back? Will my feelings rip me apart and torment me until the day I die? I hope so because I deserve it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I'm back with the next arc and AO3 ain't working with me. I couldn't name the first chapters before I had added chapter two...
> 
> Well, I hope you will like this arc. I'm off to edit chapter two before you get the chance to read it!

_Sharpened white ivory was flying through the air, like a bird of prey that was hunting. In the distance – a person standing defenseless, holding someone else. The face completely blank as they saw how the spear made of bone was coming right at them, not even trying to move out of the way. A sudden movement of the shadow caught my eye and then a taller person was standing in front of them – protecting them. The spear penetrated the body and instantly the body turned to liquid – something that created a pool of blackness on the floor that was simmering away. I looked down on my hands – one skeletal and one human that was slowly turning to bone too._  


_“You are to blame. You are guilty. Suffer” The static voice echoed through the hall and I turned around and there I saw something that once had been the tall skeleton – what seemed like void was dripping from him down at the floor and his face wasn’t consistent at all. I swallowed and tried to shield me with my arms as the creature reached out a hand against me._

_“You are to blame” suddenly I was back in the cave where the moldy smell reached me and the damp air was creeping up under my skin – making me freeze. I wrapped my arms around me._

_“Why?” a dark baritone voice echoed through the cave. I turned around and faced the throne – it was whole and on it was a monster in a blue hood. It was pulled up and I couldn’t see anything but darkness._

_“You promised… you promised to never let go…” I slowly backed away as a blue iris started to emit flames from the darkness._

_“I – I had too!” I tried but I knew that it was a weak lie – not even I did believe it anymore. The monster rose from the throne and walked towards me instead as he reached out his hand. His hand started to glow blue as he pulled out my soul and covered it with his magic. He made a swift motion and suddenly I felt how I was flying into the throne with my back first._

_“You hurt them. You hurt me. You broke your promise…” suddenly black chains came from nowhere and tied me down to the chair. I widened my eyes until I accepted my destiny. I had done wrong and this was my punishment._

_A shadow caught my eye again and it was standing behind the short skeleton. In its hands he had a sharpened bone – the same I had used when I killed Gaster. It held it above its head before it let it fall down. At the impact I screamed – the bone sticking out on either side of the hood before the body in it turn to dust._

_A dark laughter echoed through the darkness._  

* * *

The light of the thunder came first before the rumble. I flew out of my bed as I panted – gripping my head with my hands. Rain was smashing against the huge windows on the highest floor in the apartment building. Everything was dark except the light that was letting the night life come into my room.

I swallowed hard before I felt how the sweat was covering my body. This nightmare was still haunting me and it never let me be but what could I suspect after the crimes I had committed, the sins that was still crawling up my back? I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes as I tried to push away the headache that always came right after it. I quickly went out of the bed and went to the wall that was a huge window and looked out. Trails of raindrops raced each other to a doom that had been planned for them since the day they became a part of a cloud – doomed to be separated until they became whole again.  As I sighed the exhaled air left condensation on the glass – making the world outside fading in a cover of white. I put my hands against the cool surface – my phalanges making a clicking sound. Nothing helped anymore – words and thoughts were meaningless. I had made a choice all those years ago and now I had to live with – never to be free again.

I opened up when a flash of light shone up my eyelids. Soon the rumbling sound of thunder made the window rattle under my hands.

How many years had it been? How many nights had I been sleeping alone without the warmth of my former soulmate behind me, wishing for him to be with me again? I pushed it away even though one of my hands found a silver chain with a light blue transparent aquamarine formed like a heart around my neck. The only memory I had left from the life I had to leave behind me.

Seven years. It had been seven years since I had left them devastated in the Hall of Judgement – destroyed by actions.

 _Bad dream?_ The familiar voice in the back of my head made herself present. I just snorted at her. _Gee, woken up on the wrong side have we?_

“Shut up”

_Sorry for caring_

“I don’t need your care”

 _Yeah right,_ she said and rolled her eyes at me in her own head. _You have gotten a bad attitude lately,_ she tried again and now it was my turn to roll my eyes at her.

“I’m the one with the bad attitude? Who was sulking yesterday when she wasn’t allowed to get control?” I said and saw an internal image of a teenager crossing their arms over their chest.

 _Shut up,_ Chara then went away – not wanting to talk to me anymore. It was fine with me but it was always a bit sad when she did that. I had gotten used to have the dead human spirit inside of me – talking and not leaving me alone.

Suddenly I heard an almost silent knock on the door – just so faint that I could hear it. It was only one silent knock too. I turned around when the door opened up and a small figure snuck in between the frame and the wooden surface of the door. A red messy piece of hair was bouncing up and down as small feet made their way to me. I bent down to my knees and took a light hold of the small arms that held a security blanket – the one with purple elephants that matched the pajamas he had. The childish chins were covered with tears.

“Hey champ, what’s the matter?” I asked softly. He turned his face up towards me and sobbed a bit before he could speak. His green eyes glistering with the salty liquid.

“Th- the thunder is scary” he said. My whole body softened at that. Poor little guy.

“Hey Alex, what do we use to say about the thunder?” I asked him as I pulled him into my arms – a soft and warm human body filled with magic. I could feel his soul pound in his chest as it trembled in fear for the storm. The feeling reminded me of when I had rocked Frisk to sleep all those years ago.

“That it is the good guys that are fighting the bad guys” he sobbed as he wrapped his small arms around my neck. I lifted him up and walked towards the window again standing a bit from it. At that moment a new flash went over the sky and Alex quickly pressed his face against my neck and squeaked.

“And the good guys always wins” I said.

 _Liar,_ Chara quickly responded.

_Shut up. He is seven years old for crying out loud_

_Hypocrite_

_Comes from the horse’s mouth,_ I responded and flicked her off before I returned my attention towards Alex again.

“But what if the bad guys wins?” Alex asked and I sighed a bit.

_Yeah, what if the bad guys wins, Syl?_

“If they do, I will protect you” I said softly and brushed his red hair. Alex relaxed a bit in my arms and felt how his soul calmed down.

“Sis?” he asked quietly. I rocked him back and forth before I answered him with a hum.

“Can I sleep with you?”

“Of course you can, champ” I said and turned to the bed. I pulled away the comforter and laid him down before I snuck in myself. He curled up to a ball and I pulled him closer. He always wanted to do this when he was scared or frightened. I started to hum a lullaby I knew would put him to sleep – soon he didn’t even react to the thunder that rolled on outside the window.

Soon I too fell asleep and my dreams were filled with blue flames, screams and blood. As they always had been since that day, over seven years ago.

* * *

“BROTHER! COME HERE AND HELP US CARY THE BOXES, YOU LAZYBONES!” Papyrus’ loud voice echoed through the yard at the apartment complex. Sans was resting with his shit eating grin plastered on his face on a pile of boxes while his friends was moving all their stuff into the new home they had gotten after that MTEE had bought all the land around MT Ebott.

“Nah, Paps’ who’s then going to be the judge of your and Undyne’s carrying contest?” He asked and saw both Undyne and Papyrus become still at that before a flame was lightened in both their eyes.

“I’m so going to win this, nerd!” Undyne yelled before she quickly picked up three chairs at once and started to run. Papyrus was quickly to follow in her tracks.

“MY DEAR FORMER CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I THINK THAT I WILL WIN THIS!”

“Keep dreaming punk!” and they were gone. Sans just smiled and looked inside the van that was filled with their memories and belongings. Everyone had moved from their homes and many of them was now separated. Many monster had moved out of Monster Town after the first year of the treaty even though many of them wasn’t accepted at all. Now they had to move and Sans had packed down everything he owned. He didn’t go to the cottage though – he just couldn’t handle the pressure and feelings that belonged in there -  he hadn’t been there since the last night he and Syl been there.  He looked around and found a small box and Frisk’s writing was on it. He got of the box he was sitting on and walked towards it and looked at it and felt his soul sink in his chest. On it was a very nice handwriting and Sans let his hand touch it in a try to connect but he knew that it wouldn’t succeed. _Sylfaen._ He got a lump in his none-existing throat when he picked the box up.

All he knew was that she wasn’t dead. He knew it after that first time the flow of the timeline had been altered and changed. He had tried to find her but there wasn’t any trace of her anywhere – no one had seen the half breed with purple hair. He didn’t even know what he would do if he found her. She had done so much wrong; hurt their friends, Frisk, Papyrus and she had killed Gaster – his father that had saved him that day, sacrificing his own life.

Sans felt a bit of guilt in his chest when he remembered the taller skeleton, his father. He had protected them when Syl almost had killed them. Sans went outside and sat down on a bench in the sunlight in the yard. He ripped of the tape that held the box closed and it was like the time had been still in there – it must have been Frisk that packed these things. In there was some of her things she had valued during their time together. A few books she had loved, some notes on things and brews. Some jewelry, some paintings from Frisk. Sans closed the box and put it on the side of him. He didn’t want to look at it. He had moved on now. Leaving her behind. She didn’t want anything to do with them and that she had made perfectly clear for them – but deep down he wished she would return. Suddenly a shadow was cast over him and he looked up again, seeing Frisk standing there with their stripped shirt. They sat down and smiled at him.

“Hey, kid” he said lazily. Frisk looked from him to the box.

“You found her stuff, huh?” they said and Sans nodded. Frisk had begun to talk to them after a few months after Syl’s betrayal. It was as if they wanted to make an effort to make everyone happy. Even in one of Sans’ weakest moments they had tried to do a reset but the magic was gone. It was as Syl had told them; Chara was the source of the power.

“Yeah…” Sans said and closed his sockets when his smile faltered. Frisk opened the box and picked up one of the drawings that was laying there. The teenager looked at them and a smiled painted their face.

“I remember this. I drew it when we celebrated something. She was happy or at least she pretended to” they said. Sans opened up his sockets and glanced over to the teenager beside him and felt his chest tighten a bit.

“She was happy, kid. There was maybe much she could lie about and pretend, but not that” Frisk put the drawing down and picked up a photo. Sans hadn’t seen it until now but he knew which it was. He took it from Frisk and looked down at it. It was that evening when Sans and Syl had fallen asleep on the couch, before they had made the soulmate bond. Sans pin pricks became blurry at the sight. He loved her already at that time but he didn’t know it then. Her sleeping face were soft and he held her so gently so she wouldn’t fall out of his arms.

“I miss her” Frisk said and kicked away a rock with their sneaker as Undyne and Papyrus came running out of the building and into the van to pick up some more boxes before they ran off again.

“Even after what she did? She beat ya’ up pretty bad back then, kid” Frisk nodded.

“I know, but there’s this feeling I have. It feels as if the memory isn’t real – as if its lying to me” Sans froze at that.

“Why didn’t ya tell us back then?”

“Because it felt so real then, but now I don’t know” Sans sighed and put away the photograph. No need to dwell in the past.

“No idea to dwell, kid. Time to move on – I know I have” Sans said. Frisk quickly took a grip of his wrist and pulled away the cyan blue sleeve of the hoodie – showing him a leather bracelet with a red ruby shaped like a human soul hanging from it.

“Have you?” They asked. Sans chuckled and pulled his wrist to himself – pulling down the sleeve over it.

“Old habits die hard” he said. Frisk shrugged their shoulders before they rose from the seat and looked to him.

“Mom and dad will soon arrive. So I need to pick out my room so I can unpack some things before school tomorrow” they said and smiled.

“Do so” Sans said and Frisk started to walk away. “and kid?”

“Yeah?” Frisk answered as they turned around.

“I miss her too” Frisk just gave him a sad smile before they picked up a box to take up to of the apartments.

* * *

My boot made contact with the monster’s jaw as the kick made the last of it.  The cat monster coughed and looked up at me with a blue eye and blood running down his cheek. I cracked my hand against the glow I had on my left hand. I hated to do this – why couldn’t people just pay what they owe others?

“You have three days before I will be back, and if the boss doesn’t have his money by then I can promise you that you will bite the dust. Understand me?” I snarled. Burgerpants stuttered a yes to me before I turned around on the spot and went to the car that was waiting for me at the side walk. The beating had taken place in the alley so no preying eyes would see and Rick had covered the entrance.

I sat down in the passenger seat and sighed as I closed the door and Rick drove away.

“Went well?” Rick asked me and threw me a glance. I looked out the window before I answered him.

“He hasn’t the money, Rick. He won’t be able to pay up in three days and Derek knows that… He wants me to make his dirty work” Rick just nodded. Since the day Rick helped me in the alley I had got the information that he also worked for Derek and my mother and he had tried to warn me during the party. I hadn’t listened – apparently.

“What are you going to do?” He said before he made a turn to the right.

“I don’t know. I can’t pay it myself this time… Fuck!” I said and slammed my left hand into the panel in front of me. Rick gave me a suggestive glance.

“I can help ya’ with that you know. You didn’t complain last time” I rolled my eyes at him before gave him the finger.

“You know what I mean, and haven’t you wonder why I stopped sleeping with ya´?” I retorted dryly. He gave me smug grin.

“You thought I was too good for your own good?”

“Because you **suck,** literally”

_Ouch_

“You liked it and you know it” he muttered just little before he gave me an evil glance worthy of Chara.

“But if you in the end pay their debt, why do you beat them up?” He asked me after a few minutes. I felt the guilt hit me.

“If I don’t – Derek will see to it in other ways, you know that. It’s better that I do so they have a chance of survival instead to be beaten to death by one of his idiot monkeys” I told him and leaned into the seat dragging my hand through my hair.

“You want to protect them, I guess” he said before he pulled over outside an old school made of bricks. The school was from an early era and only human children were accepted into it. I looked at the clock – it was still a few minutes until Alex class would end.

“Yeah, I guess” I said as my hand came to the pendent at my throat. Rick saw my movement and his eyes followed my hand. He leaned back and dragged his hand through his short blond hair. I glanced over to him secretly. He wasn’t bad to look at – shirt blond hair and an ash blond beard that gave him a rougher look, tattoos that covered both his arms up to his neck and down his back. I knew what they looked like and I was one of the few.

“We should date” he suddenly threw out. I sighed before I hit him on the shoulder.

“That’s why I don’t sleep with ya’ anymore”

_Coward_

_“Shut up”_ I snarled to Chara.

“But how long have we known each other? Seven years or so? Even longer than that skeleton you were with. What was his name? Snas? Snaf?” I moaned at that and covered my eyes with my hand.

“Sans, and don’t go there” I told him before I opened up the car door – the kids started to come running. Through the mess of kids I saw my little brother’s red head bounce around and he waved to me. I raised my hand to show him that I saw him. A sudden glimmer of a human soul that wasn’t Alex’s I recognized, stood out of the mass.

A striped blue and purple shirt and a ragged bag caught my eyes as it passed and I turned around and saw a person with said striped shirt and a pair of brown shorts and brown hair that reached down to the teenager’s shoulder blades. I quickly turned around and scooped up Alex in my arms and walked quickly to the car. He screamed with hoy, thinking this was a game.

“Jump in and cover your ears” I said and he did as he was told – putting on his headphones. I jumped into the front seat. I quickly covered my soul so no monster or magic sensing human would feel it.

“Syl, what is –“

“Drive!” and he turned on the ignition and the car roared to life before he pulled out into the traffic. As we drove I got a sight of the one wearing the striped shirt. It couldn’t be – could it? I soon got my answer when I saw another monster on the side walk with a cyan blue hoodie, black training shorts and sneakers and as soon I saw him I knew who it was. Sans. The feeling of pressure over my chest came instantly and it was hard to breath.

 _Now it became fun!_ Chara chirped inside.

“Rick, for fuck sake! You’re driving like an old lady!”

“Take it easy! I can’t go faster!” he complained and I looked back at the couple at the street. I swallowed and hopped they hadn’t spotted me and that Frisk hadn’t recognized me at the school yard. I was a whole lot different but I still felt my heart pound hard against my ribcage. My soul still called for him even though the bond was severed since years back.

Sans looked a bit strained but still good – and he was still as short as I remembered him to be. Rick turned his head to see what my frightened face had seen and he widened his eyes too when he saw whom it was.

“Shit!”

“I told you to drive!”

“Yes mam” he said and stomped on the gas and the tires screamed as they fought to get a grip on the dry asphalt. Alex screamed with joy in the backseat and I turned around to see so he had his seatbelt on – he had taken off his headphones to listen at the sound the engine made. The kid loved cars.

I threw a last glance on the two on side walk and to my horror Sans turned around to look for the source of the sound. I quickly turned my head as I felt fear, longing and every emotion I had pushed aside during these years coming back to me. Soon we left the scene in a cloud of smoke and Rick drove us home – leaving Frisk and Sans behind. Alex saw that the fun was over and put on his headphones again and swiped into some new music had started to listen to. We listened to the engine’s rumble before Rick said something.

“Fuck” I nodded. Poor Alex – Toriel would have my head if she ever got the hand on the knowledge that we uttered curses in front of a child.

_She would have your head either way as she thinks that you hurt Frisk_

_“True”_ I agreed.

“Where the f –word did they come from?! This city isn’t even famous and they just suddenly end up here?!” I gripped my head in panic and Rick tried to calm me down. Rick didn’t answer but he did pull over to the luxurious apartment building I lived in together with Derek, Chartom and Alex. I went outside and let out the kid that ran through the door and in to the house. Rick followed me as I went inside, up the elevator, through my door and kicked of my boots and in to my part of the floor. Alex had went into where his father lived and was probably waiting for him.

“Where did they come from Rick? They aren’t supposed to be here?! None of them are!” I screamed at him.

“I don’t know” he just stood there.

“He was supposed to watch so they wouldn’t come near me by a mile! Now Frisk is going to the same private school as Alex! FUCK!” I released my magic and a few vase’s and paintings fell from their stands and walls. Then I suddenly felt a strong pair of hands push me against the wall next to me – Rick pressed his lips against mine in a try to calm and sooth me. I kissed him back furiously as I tried to get rid of the emotions I had. All this we did was just emotionless and nothing more. His hands were soon all over me and my clothes fell to the floor like leaves in the autumn. I needed this – I needed this so bad to get rid of all emotions.

But during the act – all I could think of was Sans.

* * *

Sans looked at the black Ford Mustang Fastback from 1965 whose tires were screaming before it went away in high speed. He thought it to be weird. The guy in the driver’s seat had been looking at a woman with red hair and Sans had just shrugged his shoulders but he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that told him that something wasn’t right.

“Sorry kid, didn’t h **ear** what ya’ said” Sans turned to Frisk again that groaned and put their hands on their hips.

“I said that Mr. and Mrs. Andersson’s son goes to the same private school as me. He’s a sweet little red head – looks a lot like his mother” They said. Sans smirked a bit before he shoved his hands back into his pockets.

“That’s nice but why do you care? The Andersson’s moved away as soon as they knew that Gaster had died and wouldn’t get back. Afraid that they would be next – they’ve done much for monsters though” Frisk smacked his shoulder.

“You don’t understand. A redhead picked the kid up today” Sans furrowed his bone that was supposed to be his eye brow.

“So? Wasn’t it Mrs. Andersson that picked him up? She’s a red head” Frisk shook their head violently.

“No it wasn’t. Mrs. Andersson doesn’t have a figure like that.” Sans started to feel annoyed.

“Where are ya’ going with this, kid?” he said.

“Sans, she had Syl’s necklace – the same necklace you gave her seven years ago” Sans widened his eyes and quickly turned towards where the mustang, that was now long gone, had been.

Could it have been? But no, Syl didn’t have red hair and she definitely didn’t look human, plus the necklace had been mass-produced so many women had a copy of it.

But he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had missed something.


	2. Longing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is chapter two of this arc. I'm tired and won't write so much right now. 
> 
> If you like this then please leave a comment, a kudos or a bookmark for further updates!
> 
> Stay awsome!  
> PurpleNightSong

I kicked the door open with well-planned force – I imagined that it was Derek – and with a sweaty secretary trying to stop me in my tracks. Derek almost jumped out of his chair when he heard the banging and looked shocked at me before his face with grey stained hair turned to a color that resembled a ripe tomato. He threw an annoyed glanced to his secretary before he waved her away. She looked nervously from me to him before she went back and out the door, that was cracked by now, and closed it.

“What have I told you about coming in here through the front entrance! Teleport when you have to talk to me during the light hours!” he said with a strained voice that contained his anger.

_Someone is in a bad mood,_ Chara said with joy and I smirked a bit at that.

“ _Perfect!”_

“I picked up Alex yesterday, as you told me to, and do you know what!” I said with a sweet voice as I walked towards him with my black boots making unnecessarily loud noises.

“No?” He huffed as he tried to wipe off some coffee that he spilled all over him when I had kick the door opened.

“A sweet little bird” I leaned in over the desk as I looked him straight into his eyes. “FORGOT to tell me that a special group of monsters were moving. Here!” I growled and he raised his brow.

“And what does that concern me? It’s your own damn fault that they can be ABLE to move here. If you had done your job as you were supposed to that wouldn’t have happened” he said and swirled around on his office chair in a try to get rid of me. He hated my guts but he needed me to turn back time for him if a business meeting didn’t go as planned. He made me do it until he had achieved his goals and that had been many time during these seven years. I looked down on my black leather glove on my left hand as I pretended to nudge off some dirt from it.

“Oh, but it will, boss. You see, a particular person has started at Alders Private School” I could see in the corner of my eye how he waved me away.

“Don’t call me that. Now leave. That school only educates humans and you know none of them will be able to teach there” I laughed a bit and I could see how that ticked him off even though I couldn’t see his face.

“Oh but you see – it isn’t a monster. It’s Frisk” He turned around faster than my trimmed Toyota Supra from 1999 could drive, and made me think that he would spin out of that leather chair.

“You said what?!”

“I said ‘whom’, not what” I corrected him.

_Like a master,_ it looked like Derek would explode or implode at any given moment. He quickly rose from the chair and glared at me before he spat out his words.

“You are never to pick up Alex again at the school! From now on send Rick! Do you understand me?” I rolled my eyes at him and wondered what I should next to really make him explode.

“Yes, sire” I said and made a salute.

The hit came instantly and made it ring in my ears as I tried to steady my vision.

_That son of a bitch!_ Chara’s voice said and a teenager in a green-yellow stripped shirt gave Derek the finger even though he couldn’t see it. Me on the other hand felt the soaring pain in my jaw and let the hair that covered the right side of my face fall away – showing him what the time altering was doing to me. I bared my teeth at him – showing of a nice set of canine.

“You can stare and snarl as much as you want – it won’t make you any good either way! You are to take this matter seriously and watch your every step in this city. You are not allowed to leave the apartment during the day. Is that understood?” I lowered my voice at him before I spoke.

“Make me” it wasn’t meaning to sound snobby or disrespectful but he had make it an order if I was to do as he said.

“It’s an order” the command was immediate as the magic made an iron band around my throat.

“As you wish” I snarled before I rose up from my seat.

“Now turn back time and don’t leave the apartment. Understood?” I bent my head down to show him that I had understood what he meant. My long red hair fell in front of me as I put a hand over my chest.

“Yes” and then I let the magic loose. The magic interweaving with the reality – pulling up the seam of what had already been sawn. The old threads pulled back and making it undone. Images flashed before my eyes as I tried to focus on a specific time earlier that day.

I was back in my bed next to Rick that was staring at me with big eyes. He already knew at this time about me bending and altering time – but it always scared him when I did it.

“You did it again, didn’t ya?” He asked. I leaned back to the headboard of the bed. I reached for the package of cigarettes that was laying on my nightstand next to me – a bad habit I had taken up on.

“Yepp”

“What happened this time?”

“He spun around faster in his leather chair than my Supra can accelerate” I said and lighted the stick filled with nicotine and other chemicals. I inhaled, filling my lungs with the toxic smoke and let the nicotine fill my body, before I exhaled. Rick laughed at my description of Derek.

“And you did what?” He snorted as he put his legs on the side of the bed.

“Told him about Frisk and then he hit me. Oh by the way, I’m grounded from here on so you must pick up Alex from school until this has settled down a little” Rick groaned at that and glanced at me over his shoulder with puppy eyes. He liked Alex but he wasn’t great with kids and he hated to take responsibility over them – but he knew that he couldn’t fight this.

“And everything else?” He meant when I collected all the money that Derek lent to different shady humans and monsters here and there. I inhaled again and flicked off a bit of leftover residue from the cigarette.

“I suspect that it’s still my job. I’m allowed to go outside during evenings and nights – suits me good. I don’t like the days very much either way anymore” I turned to the window and looked out as a few birds flew by and after that I caught Rick staring at my face. I knew what he was looking at.

“Any changes?” I asked him. He shook his head.

“Not in the face this time. Have you checked your hand?” I put up my left human or what once had been my human hand and saw that now the last bit of flesh gone from my wrist. I sighed. I needed a longer glove.

* * *

 

Sans woke up in his bed and realized that the time had been turned back again. He swallowed and threw the blanket off of him and he sighed. Now he had to unpack all the boxes AGAIN. He rested his elbows at his knee caps and gripped his skull.

“What are ya’ up to now girl?” He asked quietly but he knew that he wouldn’t get any response. He knew that by now, because he had asked himself the same question before. A silent knock on his door made him snap out of his thoughts. He opened the door with magic and watched as Frisk entered in their pajamas. They looked worried and Sans knew why.

“You felt it to, didn’t ya’, kid?” Frisk nodded and closed the door behind them so no one would listen to them when they were talking.

“Should we tell them?” They asked but Sans shook his head.

“There is no need for it. We don’t even know why she’s done it” he muttered and rose from his bed, grabbing his hoodie from the floor where he had thrown it the day before. “We just have to suffer through this day. Again” Frisk bit their lip and looked at him before they nodded.

“Yeah, you’re probably right” they said and went out the door. Sans sighed and teleported to the kitchen and went through the same morning routine as earlier. Coffee, puns, teasing, more coffee and more puns. Then he remembered what else he had to endure that afternoon – meeting with Mettaton. Sans had been on his way there but been cut short when the time was turned back. He sighed. He just had to endure it – he could at least do something else than rest this day, maybe catch up with other monster he knew was already living here. He had heard that Burgerpants had quit his job for the overgrown calculator and started up a nightclub downtown and what he knew it was pretty successful. He put on a pair of sneakers and went out the door and started to walk. He studied his surroundings and he could understand why so many monsters had decided to move here – it reminded them about Monster Town beside all the humans. He stopped by a vendor – bought some coffee and paid a little extra to the girl selling it. When he came into what he suspected was downtown he started to look for the nightclub. As he walked he felt the warm weather creep up on him – plastering a shit eating grin on his face. Sans was content with his life – at least he pretended to be. Everyone knew that Syl was a touchy subject and that she was not be mentioned around Toriel or Sans. Toriel would have her head if she ever tried to show her face in front of her ever again and Sans didn’t know what he would do. He missed her and he wondered what had changed – what had happened to make her commit a cardinal sin as grave as kill someone? But most of all – why hadn’t he felt her hunger for power or her feelings hate…

Sans stopped outside a nightclub with the name ‘NightPants’ and he huffed at that.

“Must be it” he said and went inside even though the sign in the window said that it was closed. The room was light and people were running around as they were doing some last touches for the night’s opening. Sans looked around as monsters ran passed him without taking notice of him – until he saw Burgerpants sitting on a chair with his arm in a casket and his right eye was swollen, he even had a few stitches on his lips. He was giving direction to people running around as he couldn’t move so good he himself. When he caught Sans sockets he widened his cat smile and waved to him and Sans did the same.

“Look what the **cat** dragged in. Shit Burgerpants whom got mad at you?” Sans asked when he was standing in front of the monster. Burgerpants looked nervously around before he smiled.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle. I borrowed money from some shady guy and when I couldn’t pay up – well his collector came and made it clear that it wasn’t acceptable. So you guys finally moved here, heh?” he said and took up a packet of cigarettes from his pants and lighted it before he inhaled. Sans laughed a bit at the joke.

“Yeah, we arrived the day before yesterday” Sans said and took a seat beside the cat. “A shady guy? Collector? Are they the mafia or something?” Sans said and chuckled, but Burgerpants almost choked on his own smoke as he started to cough.

“No – not really but the mafia, the gangs or whomever run these streets are afraid of this guy – or not him, his collector apparently” Burgerpants leaned backwards to the backrest. Sans felt that this had become more serious than he meant it to be to begin with.

“You’re not joking” Sans said. It was a statement and not a question. Burgerpants looked at him.

“Did ya’ think I joked? Look at me man! Even if I would try I wouldn’t hurt myself this bad – I’m a cat!”

“What a **cat** astrophe” Sans and Brugerpants just sighed. His tail was swaying behind him.

“I’m not joking Sans. I need to do something big before the collector comes and collects the debt tomorrow or else the dude will take my skin” Sans widened his sockets. This was really fucked up.

“How can a human be so cruel?” He said but Burgerpants just shook his head.

“She isn’t a human, Sans. She’s a monster…” Sans couldn’t believe that any monster would do stuff like that to another.

“She? Is the collector a woman?” Burgerpants exhaled and nodded.

“Yeah, and pretty good to look at if it wasn’t for that shit eating grin she always wear. Long blood red hair and a body to die for. Shit the car she’s driving costs more than a years’ worth of income” Sans furrowed his brow bone and wondered what he would believe.

“Do ya’ think you can fix the money before tomorrow?” Sans asked and saw how Burgerpants just became depressed on his chair. He sadly shook his head.

“No, but I have to try…” Sans put a hand on his shoulder.

“Take it easy BP. It will be okay – I can see what I can do under the table, okay? I don’t believe that Asgore would forgive himself if a monster perished because of money” Burgerpants looked up at Sans.

“Thanks, bud…”

“I will come over tomorrow before the collector –“

“Araphel”

“What?”

“Her name around here is Araphel the Collector” Sans laughed at that.

“Okay. I will be here before Araphel comes over okay?” BurgerPants sighed in relief and tears gathered in his eyes.

“Thanks, man. I’ll pay back whenever I can”

Sans talked to Burgerpants a few more minutes before he teleported back to the apartment to call Asgore. The king had never heard about a monster called Araphel but he would look it up before he took out the asked amount of money from the bank. Sans on the other hand wondered who this woman was with blood red hair?

If not, he would get his answer tomorrow.

* * *

The evening had fallen and had arrived at Ricks work to pick up Alex. The idiot couldn’t drop him off at home before he had to go to a meeting at MTE Records that he owned. He had told me that it was a meeting with Mettaton for an upcoming show that was supposed to be in just a few days. Rick told me that there was a snowballs chance in hell that I would meet with the monster robot and that I would be safe. I hoped so, because I couldn’t turn back time without Derek’s permission anymore – he had seen to that when I tried it once. My mother would be coming home from a trip to Japan in a couple of hours and she wanted to meet Alex – and I knew he wanted to meet her too. I parked beside Rick’s Ford Mustang Fastback and opened the car’s door to get out. I looked at myself in the windshield – nothing looked like me at least not to others, it was only when I did Derek’s dirty work as a collector I had my own appearance except from the hair.

When I had made the bond with Derek my natural hair color went from purple to the same color as my moms, which meant that I was now a red head with the color of blood. I had a pair of blue jeans and a black tank top, the black leather jacket, black gloves and sunglasses on to hide my eyes – that was the only thing I couldn’t hide. My disguise was almost perfect. I corrected the ponytail that reached down to my thighs before I walked to the building.

I went through the entrance and the receptionist waved to me and I nodded – they knew my face by now either way. I walked passed both monsters and humans that was running back and forth to meetings with up-coming stars to be – it was here my mother had worked before she had met Derek.

I came to a light corridor and saw a huge glass wall and inside was Alex laying on the floor with a bunch of paper in front of him. My smile softened when I saw him – I think I now knew why Sans loved Papyrus so dearly. He was my all – if it hadn’t been for him I would have tried to take my own life by now.

Rick was sitting behind a desk in his black leather chair and waved with his hand up and down – he was frustrated and something had made him upset. I went to the glass door and knocked before I entered. He just threw me a glance.

“What do you mean, you’re bringing friends?” Someone on the other end answered and I knew this couldn’t be good.

“Okay, okay! When? WHAT?! Okay, see you soon” he hung up the phone and looked at me. His blue eyes serious, looking at Alex and back to me when he saw that the kid had his headphones on. “Hide your soul. Quick. As. Fuck” I furrowed my brow.

“Why do I ne – “ but then I felt it. A soul so warm and loving and hurt – calling out in a faint distance. Sans.

I quickly putt up the barrier that hid my soul and magic before my own soul started to respond to the call but I didn’t know if that would help.

“Why the fuck is he here?!” I panicked and went to Alex. The child took of his headphones – smiling with his biggest smile and eyes. My heart melted.

“Are we going to see mom soon?” he asked.

“Yes champ, but we need to go right now” I told him and he rose from his place at the ground and took his bag. “Do you have everything? Your homework and Mr. Hatty?” I asked and Alex nodded as he picked up his purple elephant with a black high hat on. I took his hand.

“Which way?” I asked before I turned to Rick.

“Can’t you teleport out of here?” I shook my head and pointed my eyes down to the child. He was still far too young for this kind of stuff – I had almost lost him in the void once and wasn’t going to risk my little brother’s life to get away.

“The back entrance. Hurry” he said and I nodded a ‘thank you’ to him. I turned to the glass door to go outside but before I knew it I saw them. My soul screamed behind the barrier and I could feel all my blood disappear from my face.

_Now we’re fucked_

_“Agreed”_

Mettaton had his arms around Papyrus, they were still too sweet, Frisk was walking beside them and it seemed like they were… talking. They had grown up so much and was now a teenager with the purest of souls. I felt guilt in my chest and it was beginning be hard to breath. Alex spotted them and he cracked a huge smile when he saw them.

“FRISK!” He screamed. No. Not that. Frisk turned towards us and cracked equally big smile as Alex. My brother pulled away his hand from mine and ran to Frisk that bent down and picked them up. It was then I saw him, for the first time up close in seven years. He was exactly as I remembered him. My mouth became dry. His smug grin when he looked at his brother and his half-lidded eyes. The white pinpricks on the black void, he even had the same hoodie as he had seven years ago. Mettaton greeted Rick that had come up behind me. It was then Sans turned his sockets towards me, and he almost got me to think that he had figured me out when he stiffened – we locked eyes even if he couldn’t see that. I swallowed.

_Take it easy_

_“I’m trying!”_

“Mettaton! Nice to see ya’ bud! Sorry for the rude phone call. I had hoped to wave off my girl before you came by!” Rick said with a casual voice and wrapped his arm around my waist, Sans following his every move. “Hey there – Snas was it? Long time, no see”

“Sans, and yes” his baritone voice sent shivers through me and made me tremble inside. His voice made memories come back – memories of when he whispered soft words into my ear when we made love.

_“Think of dead kittens!”_

_Brilliant_

At that Alex turned around and smiled at me.

“Sis! Sis! Frisk goes to the same school as me! Did you know they’re the monster ambassador?”

_Smooth kid_

_“S.H.I.T”_ I saw how they all stopped in their tracks when Alex had said sis. I quickly chuckled and tried to laugh it off – talking in another voice to make it different than it was.

“I’ve been his nanny since birth so he calls me sis” I said. Everyone laughed – except for Alex, that looked utterly displeased, and Sans that studied me. His eyes traveled down my face and down to my neck. My necklaces.

“DEAR METTATON’S HUMAN FRIEND’S GIRLFRIEND! IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” Papyrus said and my sadness became greater inside of me. He reached out his glove covered hand. I took it and shook it. Mettaton just smiled at me and shook my hand too and so did Frisk. I had to get out of there. Suddenly Sans was standing in front of me, him just a few inches taller than me. He had his hand outstretched for me to grab it. No. I couldn’t do this. Why did fate have to be a fucking ass?

“Sans” he said and I quietly sighed before I took it. The reaction was immediate. His warmth crept through my glove and I could feel how his magic touched the soul barrier – he was searching. I knew why.

“Criss” I said. I tried to pull away from him but he held my hand steady.

“Have we met before?” I smirked at him – glad that I had covered my bones in my face with magic to look human.

“I don’t think so” He reluctantly pulled away his hand and Rick quickly pushed a kiss to my chin.

“See ya’ at home, babe. I need to work for a few hours” I gave him a fake smile before I answered him and played a love sick woman.

“It’s nothing hunny bunny. I have to help Alex with his homework so… See you later. It was nice to meet you guys” I said as I took a steady grip of Alex’s hand before I pulled the child away from the group.

When I came outside I quickly put Alex in the passenger seat and fasten his seatbelt before I closed his door and took up a cigarette. I quickly lighted it and inhaled the nicotine, leaning against the car.

“Hey, you dropped this” a baritone voice said. Of course fate had to fuck me over more than it already had. I turned to Sans that stood on the other side and had my car keys dangling from it. I reach for them.

“Thanks” but he didn’t give them to me – instead he looked at my car.

“Nice car, must’ve cost ya’ a great deal”

“Yeah. Too much. Please can I have my car keys?” He threw them to me and I caught them – them still warm from his touch.

“I’m more of a motorbike person – well, monster. I get too **tired** to drive a car” I snorted at that and his pinpricks became sharp. “Are ya’ sure we haven’t met before?”

“Hey, I think I would’ve remembered meeting a walking and talking skeleton. Don’t ya’ think?” I turned to get around to the driver’s seat but suddenly he was standing in front of me – looking at the necklaces I had around my neck.

“Can you please move?” His sockets went up to my covered eyes. I felt how my skin and bones ached for his touch – I still longed for him and I dreamt about him every night even though he died in the dream.

“Sorry, you remind me of someone, that’s all” he took up one of his arms and scratched his skull. Then I saw it – the bracelet I had given to him on the only Christmas we spent together. He still had it. I felt tears gather in my eyes and I tried push them away.

_Don’t cry! God dammit!_

_“I’m trying not to!”_

“I – I need to go!” I said and ran passed him and went into the car, fumbling with my car keys before it roared to life and I pulled out of the parking lot. I looked in the mirror and saw Sans looking at us before he disappeared suddenly. I sighed before I drove out on the highway. Alex studied me.

“Sis?”

“Yeah, kid?” I replied.

“Did you know that monster?” I thought for a moment before I answered him.

“I did, a long time ago”

“Why didn’t he recognize you?” I glanced over at my little brother. His eyes filled with questions and a bit of worry.

“Because he only knew the real me – he never knew the me I am now. When I last saw them… I did something bad, making them to not be my friends anymore” I said and went passed a few other cars. Alex seemed to consider that.

“Why don’t you apologize?”

“It isn’t that easy, champ” I told him as I let my thoughts wander back to the Hall of Judgement.

“Were you happy with them?” a sad smile crept up on my face.

“I was very happy”

“Are you happy now?” I turned to him and saw that he was bit sad.

“I’m super happy now! You know I love you the most!” At that he lighten up and I let my magic fall. Letting my true appearance show. Alex had never been afraid of me and he knew why I had to hide myself. People would be frightened and far too many would know who I was. I sighed and let my thoughts wander off while Alex sang with one of the newer songs on the radio.

I loved him the most, and I would protect him with my life. If anyone even had a thought to hurt him I would kill them.

_Then we are two on that_

* * *

When we entered the apartment my mother met us in hall and she bent down with her arms outstretched. She had come home earlier as it seemed. Alex dropped his bag and ran to her – she scooped him up and hugged and kissed him while she laughed. She showed him true love – the same she had shown me once centuries ago. Her red hair was shorter now and she had started to age again – a few grey strands showed up in the red flaming strands. She proclaimed Alex to be her heir and that was why she was aging now – if she had done it when I was little, she would have aged then and died earlier.

Alex kissed and hugged her.

“Mommy!”

“Hey my little strawberry” she said with a soft voice and love in her eyes. “Have you missed me?” Alex nodded, smiled and tried to wipe away the tears in the corner of his eyes.

“I have and I have been good too! I’ve eaten all of my vegetables, cleaned my room and done my homework and doing as sis said!” He explained and mother caressed his hair.

“You are a good boy, Alexander. Now run away and get ready for dinner. Dad will be home at any moment” she said and put him down – the kid dashed off towards the bathroom to get ready. My mother turned to me with a smile but I didn’t respond to it. Her own smile faltered a bit.

“Has he been good?”

“Yeah, but he have missed you a lot” I said and tried to go pass her. My mother stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and I met her serious and worried eyes.

“Derek told me about the monsters that had moved here. Are you okay?” My eyes went cold and I bared my teeth at her as I took off my sunglasses staring into hers.

“Why do you care? You didn’t in over two thousand years so I don’t see the point in doing it now” I snarled at her.

“Araphel –“

“No, I’m not taking this bullshit. You already have what you want from me so leave me alone!” I said and shrugged her hand off of me. “I don’t need a mother. She died the same day she hit me” Chartom’s flashed a bit of hurt before they became blank. I left her in the hall and went into my own apartment across the hall. I slammed the door shut and looked into the big mirror hanging to the right of me. Long red hair, under my leatherjacket and gloves bones was hiding but what had changed the most was my face. Two eye sockets with hard red pinpricks met my gaze. This was what the time-bending did to me – slowly eating me up, piece by piece. I slid down the door and felt how tears weld up in my sockets – I was beginning to loose what was left of me. I griped my skull and cried softly into the darkness that was slowly falling upon me.

The aching of the soul was the only thing I felt.


	3. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I currently have a huge writers block that I'm trying to work out, so it may take a while before the next chapter comes out. I hope though that you will like this and enjoy your reading.   
> I have news for you guys though: my boyfriend proposed and we are moving in togther in the begining of August :D We've been a couple since i was 19 years old and I'm turning 27 this years so you could guess if I'm excited :D
> 
> Thank you 'The cursed' for your nice coment. Made my day - and thank you hater on part one: you made me laugh ;)
> 
> Leave a kudos, bookmark or a comment if you guys like it :3
> 
> ~PurpleNightSong~

Sans was sitting outside on the balcony and watched the city’s light reach up to the dark sky. The day had been filled with more questions and he wondered if that the woman he had met before had been Syl. She must’ve been – even though she looked different but without any more sustainable proof he couldn’t confront her on it. What gave her away was the necklaces – he had a hard time believing that one person could have the same two necklaces, she had also hidden her eyes and he suspected that behind them, there was one eye socket with a red pin prick and a green eye that could make him melt. But what had made him realize it even more was that when he had shaken her hand and search for her soul with his own magic – he met a barrier protecting it – the same kind of barrier she had used to hide her true self from them the first time she had come from Mt Ebott. Sans sighed and leaned backwards into the chairs soft cushions. He took a sip from the beverage in his hand – he didn’t want to confront her straight up, afraid of her turning back time and disappear from him again and he didn’t know exactly what to say to her.

Suddenly his phone gave away its ringtone – “spooky scary skeleton” – and he picked up to see that it was a number he never seen before. He looked into the living room and saw that everything was dark and that everyone had gone to sleep. He swiped the green button and answered the call.

“Sans” he said and waited. It was quiet for a few seconds even though he could hear someone breath on the other end of the line. A soft breath that wasn’t steady as if the person had been crying. He sighed.

“Hey bud, if you – “

“Sans?” he became stiff when he heard the voice on the other end saying his name. Soft and smooth as the wind. The voice sent shivers down his spine and he could almost see how she was sitting alone somewhere. He was quiet – didn’t know what he would say to the caller.

“Syl?” At that he heard how she broke into sobs on the other end and Sans panicked.

“Syl, babe, where are you?” he pleaded and leaned forward as if he tried to get closer to her. She sobbed harder into the microphone.

“I’m sorry, Sans… I’m so sorry” He softened his expression and his voice as he tried to get to her.

“Please, babe. Tell me where you are and I will come get you. Come home to me… please” he felt how his own tears gathered up in his sockets and how a small glimmer of hope was growing. Maybe, just maybe, she would come back.

“I – I can’t… Sans, I can’t…”

”Syl – ”

”Give up on me, Sans…”  Sans felt how his hope fell apart and he took a harder grip on the chairs armrest.

“It was you earlier today wasn’t it? That was why you tried to get away… Syl, please, tell me where you are and I will bring you back and make everything alright…”

“It can never be as before, Sans… Please understand that… this was a bad idea…” And at the she hung up on him. Sans just stared at the phone resting in his hand – his feelings completely numb. He tried to call back but he only reached voice mail.

It had been her, it had been Syl and she was sad. She was crying on the other end he had no way of reach her, to comfort her. He had been so close to her and now he had let that one chance slip through his fingers – he had lost his chance to bring her back. He let his tears fall as he shoved his hands down his pockets as he tried to collect his feelings.

He didn’t know what to do.

* * *

 

I looked down at the phone. Why had I called him? Why had I been so weak that I fell for the temptation to call him? His pleading had hurt so much because I couldn’t come back to him even though I wanted. I was sitting in my bed and whipped away the few tears that was left. How could his voice reach into the deepest of my core even though it was numb?

He had seen through my disguise so I had to be more careful now when I went outside. I couldn’t trust anyone at this moment.

_I told you it was a bad idea,_ Chara told me and tried to push her away. This wasn’t the time for her to nag.

“Please…” I begged. I looked up and saw the projection of Chara sitting next to me on the edge of the bed. She looked serious and worried at the same time. She laid a hand on my shoulder and the pressure of the magic made it feel like a real hand that was laying there.

“ _I know it’s hard. I’ve felt it too… But we must be strong you and I…”_ I nodded and I knew what she meant. I broke down into sobs again and the ghost wrapped her arms around me to comfort me – she was my only link back to my old life.

“ _I’m here for you”_ She whispered into my ear and I knew that. But what could I do when all I wanted was to go back – to be with them, even though it would put them at a great risk?

The anxiety wrapped itself around me like a blanket and turning me numb – making it hard to breath. I didn’t even try to push it away.

I deserved this for what I had done.

* * *

I was sitting by the dining room table and helped Alex whit his book report that was due to Thursday. We had had breakfast while our mother had to go to the office to clean up some papers. My brother tried to write down his thoughts but it was hard for a seven year old boy to come up with the right things to say about something he had just read. I looked at the question sheet and I wondered what the teachers thought these kids could produce – it even made my head spin around. I looked at him – green eyes and red short hair that never wanted to stay on the same place. He was biting his lower lip in concentration and he focused at the paper in front him when he formed the letters with his small hands. He was thin for a seven year old but he was still healthy and full of life. He had a pair of white shorts on him together with a navy blue t-shirt. My heart swelled with love for my little brother. This. This was why I still was here and why I tried to stay away from Sans and the others. What would happen to Alex if I left him here with my mother and his father? I ruffled his hair and groaned annoyed by the disturbance but when he looked up at me he was smiling and I gave him a huge grin.

“Sis?” He said and I looked down at him.

“Yeah?”  
“Can I still keep talking to Frisk? They are the only one that are talking to me in school…” My heart fell in my chest when he said that. Because Alex was the son and heir of one of the greatest business men in the whole USA, they were afraid of him – even though he was the sweetest of kids. It made him very lonely and he didn’t have any friends at the school. He reminded me of Frisk a little. I gave him a soft smile.

“Yeah you can, but you can’t tell them about me, okay? That would upset them greatly I think. If they ask I’m you nanny” Alex lighted up like the sun when I told him that and I was filled with all different kind of emotions when he looked like that. He nodded and returned to his homework and at that moment Derek entered the room. I met his eyes and he nodded towards his office as a sign that he wanted to talk to me. I sighed and rose from my seat as I ruffled Alex’s hair again.

“Take a break, champ. I will be back in a short while” At that Alex rose from his chair – saying hi to his father before he ran pass him. I followed Derek’s tall figure. His hair had more grey in it than before – almost turning his former black hair to marble. He had his hands behind his back and when we came to his office he sat down in the chair. I closed his door before I leaned into it and crossed my arms over my chest.

“How is he doing?” He asked as he poured up some whiskey in a glass. I knew my mother hated when he drank so early in the day but whom was she to complain?

“He’s struggling but he does make some progress” I told him. Derek smiled when he heard that. He loved his son but he had a hard time connect with him.

“As long as he keeps up his good grades” he said and took a sip of the drink.

“He’s seven”

“Everything starts with a good foundation, but that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about” He put the glass down and he looked at me with cold eyes. “I heard from Rick that your former friends visited MTE Records and you met with them. Did they recognize you?” I was about to form a lie when Chara suddenly spoke.

_I lie better than you_

_“Be my guest”_ I said and let Chara take control making me look at Derek from behind my own sockets.

“Not a snowballs chance in hell. My disguise was perfect” Chara told him with my voice – a bit cocky but what could I do? Derek rose his eye brow and looked at us.

“You know, that cocky attitude will get you in trouble someday – more than it already has” He told me. Chara felt my anger rise and she read my mind.

“I don’t need a father to lecture me. I had one but your kind killed him” Chara told him in an eerie and cold voice that affected Derek as I saw how he shivered a little.

“No you don’t. But what I wonder right now is if our dear friend Burgerpants is going to pay me back?” I quickly took control again and sighed.

“I’m about to go and collect the money tonight but it looks dark for him.” I told him with cold eyes. Derek studied me as he interweaved his fingers with each other in front of his mouth.

“If he doesn’t pay up… Kill him. He has dragged this out for far too long” he said with a dark voice. “You are to go and collect the money tonight when the nightclub has open” I nodded at that and looked at him.

“Is there something else you want to discuss with me?” I asked. An evil grin crept up on his face as he looked at me.

“You made a call last night to an unknown number” I froze and looked at him. That fucker was watching my phone. I bared my teeth – making my canine more prominent.

“And?”

“I suggest that you stop with those kind of calls. It may cause some trouble for your former … lover” he said and smirked.

“You can’t break the contract without dying Derek” I growled at him. He smirked,

“Exactly, and where would that put Alexander?” A cold hand squeezed my heart when uttered those words. He had just used Alex as a weapon against me.

_That little fucker! One day I will kill him!_ Chara snarled inside of me and deep down I hoped she would.

* * *

I looked at myself in the mirror when and took a deep breath. This would do – leather was easy to clean and in the end I would only have to wipe away dust. I reached and grabbed my car keys before I went to Alex’s room in the other apartment. His room was dark and he was sleeping. I went to the bed and bent down. He had his security blanket and Mr. Hatty near him. I brushed away a few strands of hair from his face and kissed his forehead.

“Sleep tight, champ. I will be here in the morning” I whispered and was about go out when a small hand grabbed my phalanges. I looked down and saw that Alex was looking up at me.

“Be careful” he whispered and yawn before he fell asleep again – making his hands fall from mine. I smiled softly.

“I will” I said and teleported down to my car. I looked at my red Toyota Supra. It was styled so it would melt into the night life of the city. Rims that was black as the night, twin turbo that made it sound like a goddess on the road, the slick design made the air go around it, spoiler kit and a wing on the rear. Next after Alex, I loved my car the most. I let my hand caress the car before I opened the door and went inside – the interior was completely black. I started the engine and the beast under the hood roared to life. I smiled and pulled out from the parking spot and drove out of the garage. It went fast – really fast. If I had to travel this was the tool I rather choose. I stepped on the gas and soon I was gone – melting into the night life of the city that just had started to wake up.

* * *

Sans was sitting in front of the bar with a whiskey in his skeletal hand while Burgerpants served drinks to left and right. The music in the club was loud and the bas was thumping hard through the speakers. Sans had been surprised to see Napstablook to be the DJ for the night and that had dragged hundreds of monsters and humans to the club. The club was dark except from the flashing lights in different colors that moved over the dancing crowed. The business went well and Burgerpants had a smile on his face when he knew he wasn’t going to bite the dust that night. Sans on the other hand was still thinking about the call he had gotten from Syl the night before. It had been the first time in seven years she had made contact with him and he wondered why. He was angry and devastated at the same time that he couldn’t help her. He knew now that he had been lying to himself about him leaving it behind him. His reaction last night had made that clear. He missed her more than he wanted to acknowledge. Her voice had woken up memories inside of him that he had tried to hide deep down. He glanced down into his glass with the ember colored liquid and he rotated it in his hand. Why had she called? She had said that she had been sorry. Sorry for what exactly? For hurting them? For killing Gaster? For leaving them? He didn’t know. Suddenly a monster came forth behind the bar and whispered something into Burgerpants ear and the cat monster became nervous and Sans threw him a glance. Burgerpants poured up a whiskey to himself before he let slid down his throat.

“Trouble, bud?” Sans asked and took the last of his drink in his hand. Brugerpants put the glass down and nodded.

“Yeah, Araphel has arrived…” he said and Sans turned around for a monster that could be said collector.

“What does she look like?” He said over his shoulder and Burgerpants swallowed loudly behind him.

“You can’t miss her…” he said and Sans turned his focus back to the dance floor. Just by chance he threw a glance up the stairs to the other entrance and he widened his eyes, dropping his jaw in the process.

Down the stairs was a woman descending gracefully. She had black leather pants and a pair of black boots. She had a leather jacket on that was opened with a top navy blue that only reached down to her belly button under it. The scars on her skin shone white in the dark room.  Her left hand was covered with a black glove – but what caught his sockets was her face. Two full red lips was accompanied with a skeleton grin on her left side followed by two eye sockets with two red shining pinpricks – her red hair swaying behind her at every motion she made. Around her neck was two necklaces – one made of red leather and the other a silver chain with a blue transparent aquamarine. She still had it – she never took it off. It was her – even though she was different, it was still her – it was Syl. She hadn’t noticed him yet and he could understand that with so many souls around her. He followed her with his white pinpricks through the crowed, it was like they automatically moved away from her as if she was a predator. What had happened to her to look like that? Sans felt his soul start to ache again and he grasped above where it harbored inside him. It was really her.

* * *

I more felt the bas than heard it – every beat sent a desire to dance with it, move with the flow but I had a mission tonight. Maybe some other night. I saw Burgerpants behind the bar and I nodded to him towards his office. This wasn’t something anyone else would have to witness. I had a bad feeling in my stomach and I suspected that it had to do with me soon killing this monster. Burgerpants nodded and he disappeared. I went to his office and when I came inside I saw a huge black bag on the desk with a nervous monster behind it. I smirked at him and felt relived.

“You made it, huh?” I said and went forward. Burgerpants nodded.

“Yeah, it should be the right amount with interest too” he said. I opened the bag and looked at the money. I had to be sure that it was the right amount – more for his own sake than for mine.

“Do you mind if I count them? The boss won’t be so impressed if the amount is wrong” Burgerpants nodded.

“I understand. Can I leave while you do that? I have customers to attend to” he asked and I nodded. He seemed pretty confident so I wasn’t afraid that he would run away. The cat monster went out and closed the door behind him – shutting the sounds of the club out. I sighed and sat down with the bag in front of me. As I reached down into the bag I felt a tingling sensation – and a soul that I had avoided for seven years. The magical pressure made me froze in my seat. In the corner of my sockets I saw something move – a blue hoodie and a blue flaming iris in an eye socket. Sans.

_Great, smiley bone bag_

 “Long time, no see, babe. Thanks for the call yesterday by the way” he said and his voice were strained. His face showed an expression that was hard for me to read. I just looked at him. It was him, Sans was here. My soul ached and started to reach out for his and Sans felt it as his own did the same. He slowly came closer. _No._ His expression softened. _No, you should hate me._ He reached out a hand. _No, don’t show me such expression._ His phalanges touched my right side right under my socket – his touch was warm and firm, sending shivers through me. I had missed this.

“What happened to ya’?” He asked. _NO!_ The rise of magic was rapid and I broke his grip around my soul – quickly grabbing the bag to teleport away. As I thought that I would get away I felt how someone grabbed me and followed me. _Shit!_ I took a firm grip on him, I didn’t want to lose him the void. When I felt the hard ground under my feet I let go of him, but he wasn’t having any of that as he quickly dragged me down to the ground.

We were in the alleyway where I had parked my car. It was dark, damp and smelled of mold. The ground was cold against my back and I could feel rain hit my face. Sans was sitting on top me – pressing my hands down into the pavement. He looked down at me and I could see every emotion run through him.

“NO! You’re not running from me again!” His grip around my wrists started to hurt. “Why are you running? Where have you been? Why, Syl? WHY?” I saw tears in the corner of his sockets. My soul swelled over with what I assumed was love for him. All I wanted was to caress those tears away.

“Give up on me, Sans…” I told him. He reacted at my voice and tone.

“How can I do that? You’ve been gone for seven years, call me and then suddenly shows up at a nightclub as a freaking collector looking like this? Crying?” He pressed me down to the ground with his magic – releasing his hands. He caressed away something wet on my face. Was those tears?

“Sans, I – “

“Syl, what happened to you?” I closed my sockets hard and felt how the tears welled up in me.

“I can’t tell you, Sans… I just can’t! Why don’t you see me for what I am? A monster! I hurt you, Frisk, Papyrus, Gaster…” At that my heart burst and I started to sob. “Sans, please just let me go!” Suddenly I felt how his magic vanished from me and I felt relieved and lonely at the same time. I was laying there in try to collect myself. Then I felt his arms wrap themselves around me. They were soft and his hands pushed me tighter to him.

“Because I finally found ya’” He whispered softly into my ear. I tried to not be weak.

“ _Chara… I can’t do this… help”_

_Are you sure? You may regret it…_

_“As long as it keeps him, them, safe”_ The child in my mind sighed.

_As you wish_

* * *

Sans couldn’t believe that he had her in his arms. She was soft and warm as before. He sobbing subsided and he felt how her body relaxed and he sighed. Was she finally coming to terms that he actually was there? A low maniacal laugh that started low and grew larger erupted from her and he could feel how she became different. He became stiff himself – there was only one other that could laugh like that and he would never forget it. It had haunted him in his dreams. He took a harder grip of Syl’s body and a growl rumbled through his chest.

“Chara”

“Well, comedian. Here we are again and never did I think you would hold me like this…” Syl pushed away from him and Sans looked down in her face and saw the maniacal look in her eyes. Sans quickly released her and stepped away from the demon. Chara slowly rose from the ground and brushed away the dirt from her clothes – from Syl’s clothes.

“Where’s Syl?” He asked and he let his eye flare up with magic. Chara chuckled and smiled at him.

“She’s in here, watching” she said and knocked her head softly. Sans clenched his skeletal hands into fists.

“Why did you –“

“Why did I take control? My dear, bone bag, I didn’t _take_ control. She gave it to me”

“LIAR!” He snarled at her. He summoned his bones but Chara just laughed.

“Ah ah ah! Think before you do anything. My body is her body. You see Sansy Pansy, that she gave me control because she don’t want to see you” she said with Syl’s voice.

“You’re lying! She called me yesterday and – “

“I tried to talk her out of it. Told her that it wouldn’t be a good idea. You see, she’s doing this for you” She stopped and it seemed like she listened to something.

“Yeah yeah ok”

“Doing this for me? How can she hurting us, be doing this for me?!” Chara sighed and waved with her hand in an annoyed gesture.

“I can’t tell you anymore. She ‘aint happy about me telling you that from the start” Chara started to walk towards the Toyota Supra that was standing behind her.

“WAIT! Syl, please, come back with me…” He said and reached out his hand in a try to reach her mind or something. Chara threw a glance over her shoulder and now Sans saw something change in her face.

“If she could Sans, she would have already returned. Wasn’t you her soulmate? You know no one can lie when they are in the soulmate bond. Think about that…” Sans widened his eyes at that and Chara jumped into the car. The beast roared to life and then she was gone.

Sans on the other hand just stood there. _If she could, she would…_

He was right from the start. She hadn’t left on her own will. He clenched his fist and for the first time in years he felt determined.

Determined that he would bring her back.


	4. Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm slowly coming over the writers block and that is why I'm publishing this chapter now.   
> Thank you everyone that takes their time reading this part of the story. I'm trying to work very hard on these   
> chapters and I must say that it has been a struggle. 
> 
> If you like the story so far; leave a kudos, a bookmark or a comment   
> Stay awsome!
> 
> ~PurpleNightSong~

I looked out the window and my thoughts traveled with the motions of the trees in the wind. It had been two week since I had met Sans in the alleyway and I had a hard time forgetting his touch and his voice. Chara had released her grip on me after we had arrived home, and that had taken hours just to make sure that Sans didn’t follow us – but I hadn’t taken hold immediately. Alex had been worried for me during these weeks because I hadn’t talked much, but I still had been with him – he was my little brother after all. Suddenly raindrops stained the glass and started to race each other – as they always did. I felt empty inside when I looked at them. I was like one of these raindrops – not knowing where I was supposed to go, when my fate had already been decided for me. Suddenly I heard a knock on my door and I looked at it when Rick came inside with two cups of coffee. I smiled at him – I was thankful that he had been there for me when things had started to fall apart around me. I knew that he wanted more but I couldn’t give it to him – and it was my fault. The thing with me sleeping with him gave him hope. He reached out on hand with the cup in it and I gently took it from him and blew away the steam.

“Thanks, Rick. What would I be without you?” I asked and took a sip from the cup – one teaspoon of sugar and a bit of milk. His unshaved face smiled at me gently and his eyes were soft when they looked at me.

“Greatly unsatisfied in bed?” he said and sat down on the opposite side of me at the table in my apartment. I just glanced at him before I looked out again – the weather becoming worse by the minute.

“How are you holding up?” He asked and took a sip himself from the coffee.

“I don’t know to be honest… It’s hard but I manage to keep floating somehow… I think” He gave me a sad smile and looked out the window too.

“You know, you’ve been showing more emotions these past weeks than you have in over seven years. You’ve shown more of your true self, I believe.” I looked at him. What did he mean by that? I furrowed one of my remaining eyebrows at him.

“I show Alex my emotions, and I show you when I’m agitated – which in this case, is quite often” I said and took another sip of the coffee. Rick sighed put the cup down and leaned back at the backrest of the chair.

“Yeah but you never show any other feelings than joy and agitation. This is the first time I ever seen you down, like depressed” he said and that made me think back at my life the past seven years.

“I never had a reason for showing any other feelings than those. Alex fills me with joy and you just agitate me”

“But you have a reason now, don’t you?” He asked and I sighed. Did I?

_Of course you do! You hid inside of yourself for two days. TWO DAYS!_ Chara scolded me and I flipped her the finger. Yeah I hadn’t taken control of my own body for several days but I needed some alone time.

“What make you think that?”

“Because I had a quite agitated and angry skeleton at my office last week asking me where the fuck I had hidden you” I coughed when the coffee came in the wrong way. Had Sans returned to MTE Records to look for me? What was it in my rejection he didn’t understand? Did he really think that I would return to the same place I had met him? Such a **numbskull.**

“He did WHAT?”

“He came in, asked me where you were and threaten to turn the place upside down if I didn’t tell him where you were. Luckily I got him to leave. You met with him, didn’t you – and that is why you have been upset and depressed” I looked at him and saw how some hurt flashed before his eyes before he collected himself.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked him.

“Why didn’t you tell _me_ that you have met up with him? For fuck sake Syl! You’re making this more messed up than it already is” I threw the cup to the floor making it to shatter into thousands of pieces.

“Don’t you think I know that?! I’m trying to keep my distance! Rick, I’ve been trying to avoid them for over seven years! Seven years! They were practically the only family I had and Derek made me destroy that one piece of happiness!” My eye flared up at the outburst of emotions I felt – but Rick just looked at me with calm and soothing eyes.

“You still miss them” It was a statement and not a question. At that I became stiff and realized what he was trying to tell me. I gripped my head with my skeletal hands and looked down into the floor – hiding my tears that was running now.

“Of course I do…” I said with a hoarse voice.

“You must stop this Syl. You did this for a reason, remember?” He said and leaned forward to take a hold of my shoulder.

“I know…” I said. “But it hurts so much, Rick. When I saw him – all I could remember was what I had with them… I wished to go back to that time and leave everything else behind… Alex… you” I looked up at him. “Does that make me a bad person?” Rick looked at me and shook his head.

“You love Alex, but you had a life before him. Of course that doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s only natural for you to miss them, but you have to stop” I let my hand reach for the necklace Sans had given to me seven years ago. Rick was right and here I was wishing for something that never would happen again. I let my hand cup over the heart. It was finally time to let go.

* * *

Sans was sitting in his room with his hands weaved into each other. He had his teeth gritted and he tried to shake off the agitated feeling he had had since last week when he had confronted Rick. That bastard just given him a smug grin. Sans remembered it clearly: 

_He stepped inside the office that belong to Rick that was on the phone. His secretary tried to stop the short skeleton but she didn’t succeed. Rick threw him a glance before he waved at the secretary that she could leave. Sans shoved his hands down his pockets and waited for him to hang up._

_“Yeah, I will pick him up after school. I promise – you just stay at home and I will be over later” He was quiet and listen to the person on the other end before he spoke again. “Okay, but I need to hang up. Something just came up. See ya’ later” After that he hand up on the other person and turned his leather chair towards Sans with a smirk on his face._

_“Hi there, looking for a job? Heard you’re quite the comedian –“_

_“Cut the bullshit, bud, and tell me where she is” Sans said with a low voice. Rick’s blue eyes turned from joking to serious. Sans could see how his muscles danced under the skin and tattoos of his arms._

_“I don’t know whom you’re talking about” he answered but Sans could feel how he screamed lie all over. He really didn’t like this guy._

_“Hey, pal, sure I’m a **numbskull** but I’m not dumb. You know exactly whom I’m talking about. A half breed woman, my height, red hair and skeleton sockets, red pin pricks, black leather, drives a Toyota Supra from -99.” A smirk crept up on the blond man’s face but his eyes still serious._

_“Oh, that one” Rick made a motion with his hand for him to sit down but Sans preferred standing right now. Rick sighed and leaned back into the chair and threw his legs up on the desk. “I can’t tell ya’ that, bud. She has forbidden me to tell any of you”_

_“So you know where she is” Sans said and took a step forward. Rick nodded._

_“But I can’ tell ya anything. Understand this, Snas –“_

_“Sans” he corrected him._

_“Sans, that she does not want any of you to find her. She has gotten over you –“_

_“Didn’t sound like that when she called me a few days ago. Sounded pretty upset and when I met up with her at BP’s she was quiet shocked. Even made that little demon brat take over for a while” Rick widened his eyes at that in shock._

_“She didn’t tell me that” Sans let a smug grin creep up his face._

_“Hard to get over someone that once been your soulmate, bud” An equally shit eating grin covered Ricks face._

_“I don’t know. She has at least screamed my name a few times more in bed than yours during these seven years –“ Sans quickly took a grip of his soul and pushed him to the wall behind him with chair and all. His cyan blue iris flickered and he had bared his teeth._

_“I dare you” His voice were dark and low as darkness filled his face. In the back of his head he could hear how a Gaster Blaster clicked and made itself noticed but he didn’t want to use it here on the only person who knew where his girl was._

_“Think about this, bone boy, don’t ya’ think she would have stayed away from me if she still had loved ya’? I warned you at the party all those years ago to not let go of her but you did. Now it’s my turn.” Sans gritted his teeth._

_“Chara told me that she would’ve return to me already if she could. Is it you that are pulling the strings?” He asked but Rick just laughed him in the face._

_“No, it’s someone else, and there is two things that holds her down – but at first there was only one thing.” Sans pushed him harder against the wall – making the guy choke. “Give up Sans. She has cried enough, leave her alone. It will be easier for her” Sans looked at the man sitting in the chair realizing something._

_“You want her too, not for her body but for_ her. _You love_ her.” _Rick’s face turned bitter at that._

_“Are we done? I have other business to attend too” Sans let go of the man and gave him a dark glance._

_“Just for the **record:** this isn’t over” at that Sans teleported away. _

Sans tried to collect everything he knew about this shit – every clue he had. Two things tied her down so she couldn’t return, she had called him but she still didn’t want to see him which meant those two things made her do that. Every feeling she had showed when they’ve been soulmate was true – she hadn’t lied. If she really wanted to kill them she would have tried when she met him at BP’s – but instead she fled – not wanting to hurt him even. So his hunch had been right from the start – she hadn’t done anything on her own record. Someone had made her do that – but why? And why had she hurt Frisk all those years ago?

_You felt it to, kid?_ He remembered his words to Frisk and suddenly he understood. Someone was using her for her time magic, to do a reset every time something didn’t go as planned. He gritted his teeth. How could he have been so dumb not seeing that? But what was holding her back? Sans smirked a bit into his hand. He was going to find out and then he was going to bring her back to where she belonged.

* * *

The darkness was compact and the only light source, the glowing orb, couldn’t even pierce the darkness surrounding it. A pair of white hands moved around it and caressed it with gentle fingers. Nothing could be heard other than the breathing of other beings sleeping somewhere. The owner of the hand looked around and then down into the orb where the figure of a woman could be seen – crying. Emotions that swirled around her gave away a darkness that threaten to kill her in the end. How cruel fate was to those that had lived right, that had done nothing wrong. A deep sigh was heard and the being slowly lifted its head and looked at the soul that came forward. It reached out a hand to let it know to show itself.

“Tell me your wish, my friend” the being said with a light singing voice. The soul pulsed and slowly it took shape – tall and filled with power.

“I want to return” a male voice said and watched the being sitting in front of the orb. It started to move its hands around it again.

“And why should I allow that?” the being asked and let a nail follow the round shape of the glowing orb where the woman with red hair cried and yelled a name. The name of the one she loved deeply.

“Because it isn’t fair” The soul said with a sharpness in its voice.

“Fate is rarely fair to those that wish for it”

“She does not deserve what has been given to her!”

“Tell me, my friend, is it your own thoughts or your own feelings for her that makes you wish to return?” the being moved from its place at the orb and walked towards the soul that was standing before it. The fabric slowly following it – unfolding a pair of white legs underneath it. The soul clenched its fists and gritted its teeth – a reaction that was normal but not necessary now when the souls were composed of remains of what they had been when they been alive. Movements and reactions was just something that still lingered here.

“How could I not wish to return? She has been alone for far too long. I failed the one mission I had in life. I have to return!” The being sighed and made a sweeping motion with its hand – making the orb float to it and showing the soul several images.

“Several timelines there has been – and several of her too. She is one of many and she is not the last one to suffer like her. Time will change and different pasts, presents and futures has been, are now and will be. Why does her fate make you take action?” the being asked and showed him every timeline the woman had been in.

“Because… I belonged in her timeline”

“You belonged in every timeline as did she” The soul looked at the being.

“I beg of you. I have to return. Please!” The soul begged. The being was quiet for a while before it answered the pleading.

 “You know the cost for going back before your time has come – and with memories of the past” The soul nodded and watched as the being sighed.

“As you wish – but you won’t have the same form as before. You have to –“

“I will go too” a second soul emerged from the darkness and the both that were already standing there looked at it as it also took form before their eyes. The being looked at it and knew that it couldn’t deny their wish.

“You know what it will cost. Are you two still willing to go through with it?” They both nodded. The being moved its hand and opened up a rift into the void – the portal to the timelines. 

“Follow the pull of the void – don’t resist it. You will notice when you’ve come right” The souls both took a step forward and into the void. They quickly disappeared and left was the being looking after them.

“I hope you succeed. I wish you good luck, my friends” it stated and let the hood fall as the rift closed before her.

* * *

Rick looked at the woman sleeping next him. Her face was crumpled together with worries and she moaned in her sleep as if someone was haunting her. The room was dark and the only light that came in through it was the light of the city outside. Her sockets were closed and he could see the crack running under them. The skeleton grin was slowly showing itself on the right side. He let his hand caress her red hair and felt a tingling feeling in his heart. He didn’t know when this feeling started to show itself but one day just a few years ago he had found himself standing outside in the rain, waiting for her and when she had showed up – the tingling had been there. It didn’t concern him at all that she was slowly changing because of the bending of time. He was worried that she would vanish someday but her appearance didn’t scare him. He still loved her. His fingers slowly trailed their way down her jaw and he could feel the soft transition from bone to skin. She moaned at his touch and that made him smile – he knew what she liked and what he had to do to make her squirm under him. Oh so beautiful she was in the lighting of the outside. His fingers followed the line of her jaw to her throat and down to her sternum. His fingers stopped when he felt the silver chain around her neck and jealousy ruptured through him. The chain had been given to her from Sans and she never took it off. He couldn’t deny he was jealous of the monster that had been with her before him but Rick was content now when she was sleeping beside him instead of the monster. But he was reminded that she had been claimed before him every time he saw the necklace she treasured. He gritted his teeth and took a grip of the pendant – she wouldn’t notice if he took it now. He pulled.

At that her sockets shut open and they were dark not showing any pin pricks or iris’ in them. He swallowed when he looked into the void.

“What do you think you’re doing, idiot?” She asked and Rick knew that it wasn’t Syl. It was Chara.

“Why do you care? I thought you hated that skeleton deeper than anything else” She rose from the mattress, stretching her arms and showing off Syl’s body. The beautiful curves of her waist, back where her spine were visible and the roundness of her breast showed when she did that and it aroused him

“Yeah, I do – but she will still be upset when the necklace is gone, and do you know what? I hate my host to be upset more than I hate that damn comedian” she said and glared at him. Rick swallowed when he saw the glare. It sent shivers down his spine and gave him goose bumps – he hated when Chara did this, taking over the body of the woman he loved.

“Is she…?”

“Awake? No, she’s sleeping – it has been hard on her these couple of days and you haven’t done anything to make the matters better either” she said and rose from the bed, wrapping the blanket around her.

“She wouldn’t notice if the pendant vanished” at that Chara laughed and brushed away some hair from her face.

“Then you don’t know her at all. There is only one thing she treasure more than that pendant and that is Alex. Sans gave her that pendant as a token of their love and soulmate bond” at that Rick flinched a bit. He knew that she missed them but he thought that just maybe was she slowly warming up to the idea of him and her.

“What should I do?” He asked and looked down at his hands. Chara shook her head and sighed.

“There isn’t anything you can do to make her change her mind about her feelings about you. All you can do is wait. But if you really love her you should think more about her instead of you” Rick looked up and wondered what she meant by that.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell you that. But I suggest that you should leave, Rick, before she wakes up and I tell her what you was about to do” she said. Rick nodded. She was right so he rose from the bed and quickly dressed himself before he left just looking at Chara.

When the door closed behind him, Chara turned to the huge window.

“He is gone now” inside of herself, Syl was shaking and begged Chara to touch the pendant just to see so it was still there – and it was.

* * *

Alex sat in class and wondered what he could do for his sister. She had been down for several days and she didn’t want to play with him and he suspected that it had to do with the skeleton that was picking up Frisk every day at school. Alex liked Frisk – they were the only one that wasn’t afraid of them. They talked to him and asked questions but he had been careful when they asked about his family. He had promised his sister to be careful.

Suddenly a bell rang and he ran outside to pick up his stuff before he was supposed to be picked up by Uncle Rick. He would always be a couple of minutes late – his sister would always wait for him when he ended school. He had pouted when he had realized that his sister wouldn’t come and pick him up anymore.

Alex went out the to the school yard and looked around him. Rick hadn’t arrived yet so he went to the gates. He suddenly saw the monster his sister had been friend with once, and Alex found himself wondering if she would be happy if they became friends again. He decided in an instant.

* * *

I was reading in my apartment when my phone started to ring. I picked it up and saw that it was Rick that was calling. I hadn’t talked to him since yesterday and to be honest, I didn’t want to right now either. I laid it down beside me again and it soon stopped to ring – the call going to voicemail. I sighed and returned to my book.

Once more it started to ring and saw that it was Rick again. It must be important if he called me again right after his first call went to voicemail. I swiped the green button.

“Yeah?” I answered a bit more agitated than I was supposed to. I could hear how Rick panted in the microphone and that he tried to catch his breath. Had he been running?

“Rick, why aren’t you pick –“ I was cut short.

“Alex is gone! He isn’t at school and he wasn’t waiting for me either” My whole world stopped to turn and I could feel panic run through both me and Chara at those words. Please, anyone else but not Alex. Please.

“ _HE IS WHAT?!”_ Both I and Chara yelled. I gritted my teeth and rose from the seat hanging up on Rick. I cracked my knuckles and Chara growled inside of me.

“I will kill whoever tries to hurt my baby brother!” I snarled into the empty apartment before I opened a rift to Alex’s school – I wasn’t picking him up, I was looking for him. Not breaking the contract.

_That makes two of us._

The void swallowed me whole, enveloping me in its darkness.


	5. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter five! Slowly it's getting there and I'm slowly starting to get a clear view of where the story is going.   
> Had a smaller accident yesterday with one of my student when we were practicing some rounders before the tournement today. We ran into each other making me hit my head with his and he hitting me on the hipbone with the racket - this resulted in me rolling out of bed this morning with a huge bruise and a huge wound plus a fracture in the bone according to my doctor....
> 
> My poor student cried blood when he heard about that - he was so devistated! But I'm ok and think it will be okay either way. It was an accident :) My class bought me flower though as their way to say get well soon :) I love being a teacher sometimes! Love my kids too!
> 
> Stay awsome!
> 
> ~PurpleNightSong~

I bashed his head into the brick wall and he gasped after air when he felt the impact through his body. He tried to get a grip of my wrist but I just squeezed harder.

“Where is he?” I growled. The human looked at me with fear in his eyes. I had collected some money from him a few months back and I figured that one of these bastards had taken Alex as a revenge at me or at Derek. I pressed him harder against the wall when he didn’t answer me. Chara was filled with the same rage as me – the same panic as me when she knew that my little brother had vanished. She treasured him as much as I did.

“I – I don’t know what you’re talking about, man!” I smashed my hand up right beside his head and snarled at him. The brick behind the bone cracking at the impact.

“WHERE?!”

“I swear! We didn’t take him! Do ya’ really think we would dare to take him from ya’? We know you would cut our throats open if we did!” I let my sockets become dark when he said that – my anger sent a tingling thrill through my body and I was about snap.

“That is nothing compared to what I will do to ya’ if you don’t tell me where he is!” I threatened. The small man squealed and started to cry – the tickling scent of urine reaching my nostrils. This fucker had pissed his pants.

“I – I saw him! Going with a monster and a human in a striped shirt! A skeleton! A blue jacket” he screamed and at that I let him go – falling to the pavement in the alleyway among trash. She panted as he tried to catch his breath and I cracked my knuckles.

“You should’ve told me sooner” I growled and walked from there. Rick was leaning against one of the walls – looking at me.

“Don’t ya’ think you overdid it a little?” he asked. My socket flared up with my magic and I threw him into the wall. He coughed up some blood from his mouth – some running down his face from a cut at his temple. I bared my canines at him. This was his fault.

“This is all your fault! I you had been there in time this wouldn’t happen!” He looked shocked at me as he fell to the ground. I picked up his car keys that had fell out of his pocket. “I’m borrowing these. Take a bus or something – I contact YOU when I want to talk. Don’t ya’ dare come near me until then” I said. Rick looked almost devastated at that and he reached his arms towards me.

“Syl –“

“Fuck you, Rick!” I said and went to the black Ford Mustang standing at the side of the sidewalk. I slammed the door shut and stepped on the gas, the tires screaming at the rough handling I put them through. Soon I was out in the flow of the traffic and I took up my phone. My thumb dialing the number that still was in the muscle memory. It didn’t even take two signals before he answered the call.

“’Sup?” his casual way of saying that made me more agitated than Rick ever had done.

“Don’t ‘sup’ me you old bag of bones! Where is he?” I asked and felt my grip tighten around the phone. It was quiet for a moment before he answered me.

“Syl, we have to talk”

“No we don’t! WHERE IS HE SANS?!” I shouted at him through the phone. In the background I could hear voices and Alex laughing. He wasn’t hurt at least.

“He is here with me and Frisk. Safe and sound”

“Let me be the judge of that” I said drily. Sans sighed on the other end of the phone. He was quiet and I lost my patient. There was only one place in the whole city that was friendly enough for both humans and monster and only one place Sans would take a child. I gritted my teeth.

“I’m coming to get him” I said.

“You don’t even know where we are” he said in a calm voice.

“Old habits die hard, Sans. Best for you that he is safe when I get there” I said and hung up on him and turned right at the next corner. I made a five-minute drive before I parked outside the bar. It was like I remembered it to be. Grilby’s. This was just one of several though. He had expanded when the monsters had been allowed to open business’ outside of Monster Town and I had been surprised when we moved here that he had opened up one of them in this neighborhood. I stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. I could feel every soul inside even Frisk’s and Sans’. I opened up the bar and the warm atmosphere wrapped me in like a burrito. The oak beams and the wooden structure and tables were all the same as the original Grillby’s. Monster and humans was scattered around the tables and booths – chatting as if nothing ever happened – as if it always had been like this. At the bar I could see three figures that I recognized. The smallest of them turned around and his face began to shine like the sun itself. He jumped off the chair and ran to me. I knelt down and swooped him up into my arms and shutting my sockets hard – not even caring that everyone could see me and my true self.

“SIS!” He said and hugged me tightly.

_He is safe. That damn brat!_ Chara huffed inside of me seemingly relieved that we had found him in one piece – with chocolate smudge all over his face. I pressed his soft body to mine and inhaled his smell that soothed me. I grasped the fabric of his green jacket.

“Damn it, kid” I whispered to him and pushed away the tears in my sockets to somewhere else. “Never, ever do this again. You hear me?” He pulled away a bit from me and looked at me with worried eyes.

“Was you worried?” I looked at him and smiled softly at him.

“Very. I thought that something had happened to ya’, champ. What would I do without ya’ if you disappeared?” Alex bit his lower lip and he looked a bit guilty at what he had done.

“Sorry, sis. I thought that it would make you happy if you had your friend back. He was waiting for Frisk outside my school. All I wanted was to make you happy” he said and my heart swelled at that. He was so innocent and brave – my little warrior. I brushed his hair out of his face – I had to book a time at the hairdresser to get it cut.

“Alex, I’m happy when I’m with you” I said softly.

“But not when I’m not there. I wanted you to have an extra friend – you are only with Uncle Rick otherwise” I felt guilty at that. Alex shouldn’t know anything about the internal pain I felt. I glanced up and saw both Frisk and Sans looking at me. My eyes went cold and I sighed before I put Alex down. Sans studied me and Frisk looked almost frightened and that they had the right to.

“They bought me chocolate ice cream!” Alex said and pulled me to them. I followed the small child and never letting my eyes go from Sans’. Alex jumped up at the chair and started to eat the ice cream again.

“Talk. Now” I just said.

“I thought you didn’t want to talk?”

“Sans” I growled at him with a low and dangerous voice. Sans looked at Frisk.

“I’ll watch them” They said and looked at me with suspicion in their eyes. I bent down and ruffled Alex’s hair.

“I’ll be talking to Sans, champ. Stay here with Frisk, okay?” Alex turned around and nodded with ice cream all over his face. It was hard not to laugh. He returned to his treat and I walked outside and Sans followed me. When we came outside I went to the backside of the building – no one needed to hear what I had to say to the skeleton. I turned to him and my anger flared up once more.

“What. The. Actually. Fuck were you thinking?!” I started but all he gave me was a shit eating grin. He shrugged his shoulders as he shoved his hands down his pockets as he looked at me with his lidded sockets.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. He approached us and he wanted to talk to us. The question is why Mr. and Mrs. Andersson’s son calls you their sister” I looked at him.

“That’s none of your fucking business, Sans” I snapped at him. “I thought someone had taken him away, but now when he was safe I can let that go. All I wanted to say was that I don’t want you to approach him or me – ever again. Understand?” Sans gave me a challenging gaze before.

“He is your brother, isn’t he? I know that look you gave him. It’s the same look I give Paps’” I sighed and leaned back to the wall closing my sockets. He already knew that Alex was my brother there wasn’t any idea of trying to deny that.

“Yes, he is my baby brother” I heard how Sans slowly came closer. “Can you please let me go?”

“You didn’t leave because you wanted – you left because you had to. Was it because of him?” I sighed again – feeling the iron grip around my throat burning against my skin.

“Partly” I opened my eyes and looked up to the blue sky above me.

“What was the other reason?” I shook my head. I couldn’t tell him.

“That I can’t tell you. If you excuse me, I have to return home with my brother” I said and looked at him. He was standing at an arm’s length from me but I could still feel the heat and magic radiating from him and my body only wanted to be near him. I tried to move away put he shot out an arm and hindered me from leaving.

“Syl, you owe me an explanation. What happened seven years ago?” Memories of how I had attacked him and the others – how I had left in what was left of the Hall of Judgement – flashed before my eyes. How Gaster slowly turned to dust before their and my eyes.

“I owe you nothing, Sans” I said as I tried to push him away. He seized my left wrist.

“Syl, please…” The pleading in his voice made me tremble before him and the walls I had built up was slowly falling.

“If I tell you, everything I’ve done has been for nothing!” I said with a louder voice but all he did was looking at me with those intense pinpricks of his. He leaned in closer to me – pushing me gently to the brick wall behind my back.

“Please Syl, tell me what happened” he whispered. I felt his breath against my skin as he came closer to me with half-lidded eyes. “I can’t let you slip through my fingers once more now when I have you here”

“Sans, don’t do this… please” he let one hand make its way to my face – caressing it with the backside of what would have been his hand. The feeling of his bones against mine sent a warm tingling feeling through me.

_WARNING! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!_

_“oh, shut up for once”_

I felt how he came closer and he was just inches from me – my lips longing for his touch. How had I ended up here? A few minutes ago I had yelled at him for taking my little brother away, now I stood in the alleyway next to Grillby’s – almost kissing him.

The ringtone of my phone went off, smashing the perfect situation to shards and pieces. I quickly pushed Sans away – feeling the soft fabric against my bones. I looked at the phone when I had picked it up and my mood became sour. I answered the call.

“Yeah?”

“Have you found Alexander?” My mother’s voice was panicked and she was on the brink of tears. I sighed and looked at Sans – he studied me and tried to figure out who I was talking to.

“Yes, I have” I said and felt how I gained control of myself and my soul.

“Is he okay?” She asked.

“Yes, found him stuffing his face with ice cream” I said and gave Sans a look that would almost kill. He just shrugged it off.

“Thank God, Rick called me and said you were looking for him”

“Of course he did” I said with a hard voice.

“Please, Araphel, bring him back” she pleaded. When had my mother become such weak woman?

“I will” I said and hung up. I looked at Sans.

“I have to go” I said as I turned around to walk away.

“It’s Mrs. Andersson that connects you two isn’t it? You father was dead – but you never knew what happened to your mother. Now when I recall it you have the same hair color as her” I stopped at that felt how everything became heavy – my shoulders shrinking together.

“Then why do you ask?” I said and started to walk again with tear stinging in my eyes. This was torture and a nightmare. “Why do you ask if you already know the answer to all of your questions?”

“Do you have someone else?” He suddenly asked and I stopped again clenching my fists as the guilt struck me head first. I didn’t answer him and I could hear how he drew a deep breath. I turned to him again and looked him in the eyes. Our void filled sockets made contact with each other and I could see how the hurt in his eyes flashed before him as he already knew the answer.

“Sans, I have told you; it can never be as before. I’ve changed and so have you. I can never be a part of that family again – what would that make me if I left Alex?”

“Take him with you” he said. I shook my head.

“No, Sans – even though I hate the people that are parenting Alex – he still loves them deeply. I can’t take that away from him. His happiness is worth more than my own – I’ve done much wrong in my life and I’m now reaping what I’ve sown. I have one mission and one mission only. To make Alex happy” I said and laid a hand over my heart where both my heart and soul harbored. Sans looked at me quietly. It was as if understood was I was saying. He would have done the same thing if it had been Papyrus.

“I’m nothing more than a thug – someone that makes the dirty business’ of others. I’m sorry but I can’t return. It wouldn’t be right against you, them or Alex” I said. He sighed.

“Let us be the judge of that, Syl”

“You’ve already judged me one time, remember that? I beg of you – leave me and my little brother alone. Don’t dig any deeper into this. Find someone else, find your own happiness. If you still care for me then do this for me” I said and his sockets became empty as he looked down into the pavement with his hands in his pockets.

“Farwell, Sans” I said and turned around to walk away. Inside the cracking of my soul hurt more than a physical flesh wound. Why did it hurt? We had ended the soulmate bond but still the lingering feeling of hurting him made me always tear up. When I came into Grillby’s again I went straight forward to Alex.

“Come now, champ. They’re waiting at home” I said and turned to Frisk that looked at me with lidded eyes. I bit my lower lip as Alex gathered up his things without questioning – he knew when it was hopeless to complain.

“Thanks for watching him for me, kid. Take care” I said softly and the anxious face that Frisk had had on their face soften up and they let on a weak smile.

“He is great, your brother” they said and I chuckled.

“He’s the best” I told them. At that I took Alex’s hand and went out the door to the Ford Mustang waiting outside. He jumped inside and when he had fastened his seatbelt we drove off. Leaving Sans, for what I hoped was for the last time.

* * *

The dark haired man looked at the scene that was playing out before him and his companion on the other side of the road. The Ford Mustang went into the traffic and disappeared among the rest of the metal beast’s running wild on the road. His companion looked at the skeleton that was staring into the traffic as if he still could see the woman, before he shrugged his shoulder and went into the bar again. They looked at each other. The first one was tall, with an almost white skin complexion and black hair and equally dark eyes and had a more sophisticated look. The other one had a darker complexion and he was broad over the shoulder and the chest, purple short hair and tattoos over his muscular arms that was showing.

“Hey, W. Is that the one you were speaking of?” the darker one said. The man with the light skin complexion, called W, furrowed his eye brow before he nodded.

“It is” he stated and looked again at the traffic.

“I like him. He seems to be a good guy” W sighed at that and looked at his friend.

“To call him a good guy seems to be a bit much, Ab”

“Ah, come on W, he wants to help and isn’t that a sign that the guy is good?” W sighed and nudged his forehead with his fingers in a try to get rid of the looming headache.

“You should care a bit more about who she choose Ab” W said and leaned against the wall on the other side of the road.

“As long she is happy I’m good, besides; I think you’re just jealous” W felt the how he became flustered over the words his companion uttered and looked away.

“I – I am not! Her happiness is everything!” he said and crossed his arms over his chest. Ab smiled at him and a soft smile was plastered on his face.

“Then we need to get to work. Like this – nothing will happen” Ab said and patted W’s shoulder. W nodded and glanced to Grillby’s one more time. The skeleton and the human child came out – looking a bit down.

“Fate isn’t fair…” he said. Ab looked at them too before he nodded.

“She rarely is. Come W, we need to get going” and with that – the two of them started to walk away.

 


	6. Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay but as many of you know already I've been planning a wedding, to move and I got a new dog. My hip wasn't ok either after an acident with one of my students earlier this summer. The hip is okay - nothing t oworry about right now.   
> PLUS a writers blokc on that but now everything is starting to settle down a bit and I've been working on the two latest chapters in the series.   
> I've missed you guys - a lot! But I've been so tired even though I've wanted to write - I couldn't. Blank. Nada. Nothing. 
> 
> Now though when I'm hopefully back I'll give you two chapters this time.   
> I wont be posting chapters regulary but I hope at least once a week. 
> 
> I love you all.  
> Stay Awsome <3  
> PurlpeNightSong

Derek looked at the man sitting in front of him. This man was broken. The blond hair was dirty and he had a small wound on his face right under his temple. He had his head in his hands and he wondered how his little brother could have turned out this way. He had never seen him like this before, not even when Chartom had left him to pursue the dreams with his older brother. Derek sighed and poured up a glass of whiskey to both of them. The leather under him creaked when he moved.

“Derek, I don’t know what I should do… I can’t force her to choose me, and she still has that freaking skeleton in her heart…” Derek listened to him – he already knew that Rick had fallen in love with his sons older sister and Derek could understand why. She was a lovable woman and even his wife had started to find some kind of love for her daughter once more – and it started to worry Derek. What if Chartom suddenly decided that it was enough? That using her oldest child for their profit was wrong? He couldn’t let that happened. He needed the witch for her time magic – without it he wouldn’t get the recognition he had promised his father he would get. He was determined to not let anything get in his way – not even his wife. If she stepped in the way – he would see to that problem.

“Has she met him more than that time?” Derek asked and Rick looked up at his older brother. That they were related was hard to see when they had different mothers – Derek’s father had had an affair with a younger woman, Rick’s mother, when Derek had been about teen years old. Rick was a result of that affair. Now they worked with each other even though Rick from the start had tried to stop Derek to pursuit the time witch. In the end he had joined their side just for the witch’s sake.

“She did – when Alex went missing. The kid told me that. Derek, she won’t even talk to me!” he said with a hoarse voice and Derek felt for his little brother. He was a good guy – too good for the daughter of his wife. She wasn’t anything else than a tool to him, but his brother loved her. Derek sighed at the new information. His intel had missed to inform him about that the former king and queen moving to this part of the country and even missed that they would move to this city. Now it had been a month and Araphel had met with the skeleton three times since they moved here. Derek felt that things started to get complicated. This had to be dealt with but he himself couldn’t do anything – if he did, he would die because he would break the contract.

“Do you love her, Rick?” he asked and gave his brother the other glass. Rick nodded and Derek could see for the first time since their father had died, tears in his eyes.

“I do…”

“What are you willing to do to make her yours?” he asked. Rick looked up and he had a devastated look in his face.

“I would do anything!” Derek smiled.

“If I got you any means you needed to make her yours, would you take it?” Rick looked at him as his eyes widened as the information went through his skull. The blond looked down into his glass before he nodded – knowing what his brother wanted without saying anything.

“Yeah…” he whispered. Derek smiled and put down his glass before he wrote down a phone number on a piece of paper – reaching it to Rick.

“Call this number and everything will be taken care of. Tell them your problem and it will be dealt with” he said. Rick took the number and swallowed. He was ready to do anything to get the girl he loved. Anything.

* * *

 

I felt the magic wrap itself around the dead object. It sunk into the hard surface – into the pores slowly giving it a softer substance. Cells, veins, proteins, bacteria and electrical pulses was slowly forming – resurrected from the energy my magic was giving it. The link was strong and magical energy was slowly draining from me. I focused on what I wanted – a beating heart, a functional brain, a moveable body, breathing lungs. Then suddenly my focus was disturbed, something was missing, my magic cut off. I opened up my eyes and looked at the material laying on the floor in the circle – I sighed when I saw how some smoke just came up from the pile. Chara muttered something in the back of my head. This was the seventh time I had failed to create a new body for her. Something still missing.

_At least you tried,_ she whispered.

_“I will succeed one day. I promise”_ I thought and started to clean up the mess I had made. The white chalk on the floor, the materials in the center of the white ring, putting away small boxes, pouches of herbs and boxes with exotic herbs on shelves around the room. This room was mine and only mine – somewhere I could practice my own magic.

_You were closer this time though,_ she said. I nodded – this time I had felt how a heart had begun to beat. I looked around the dark cellar – it was old and was well hidden underneath the company building of MTEE. Cobblestone floors and walls. Just like in old fairytales – a dungeon more or less. I still missed the windows to let some sunlight in but I couldn’t let anyone see this by accident.

When all the cleaning was done I started a fire under the cauldron with clean water to make some tea. It was the best way to make me regenerate my magical powers I had concluded. I tipped some herbs into the water before I went to the old scroll laying on one of the desks. I looked at the inscription and tried to find the missing link. What had I missed this time? Or was I doing something wrong in the process? A wrinkle appeared on my forehead when I concentrated on the foreign language – it had been hard for me to learn it but I had found both the scroll and tools to translate it in my mother’s private library.

_I don’t think you’ll be able to do anything now either way. Let it rest for a few days._

_“I can’t just leave it”_ I told her and tried to focus again, but I soon threw out of my hand and went to take some tea instead. It had been over a week since I met with Sans in the alleyway. I hadn’t even talked to Rick since the incident. I had returned his car later the same night outside of his apartment and left the keys in his mailbox before I had teleported home again. He had tried to call me but I hadn’t answered any of them as I felt that I had to focus on myself. Things had started to become complicated and nothing was going as planned.

I took a sip of the tea and let my hand touch the leather necklace – the collar that held me captured. The witches’ collar was a powerful tool for the rulers of old to control mages and other magic users – many of them used it gain more power. The power granted from it made it possible for me to use time magic more often but only when Derek allowed me that. I couldn’t draw out its strongest power otherwise. I dropped my thoughts and let my mind go blank for a moment just to feel my surroundings. The damp air that crept up under my clothes, the sound of dripping water from the ceiling, the scent of something musky and moldy. The temperature gave me goosebumps and made me shiver a bit.

I put the cup down– this wouldn’t do, I needed to have something stronger to sooth my nerves. I quickly teleported to an alleyway just a few block away where I knew was a shady bar that let the people inside be alone. It was what I needed now. The alleyway was dark and smelled of piss and trash. No one would find me here – not even Rick or Derek. I went to the front and looked around – a few cars, some old concrete buildings and poor people living in this part of the city. Humans and monster struggling for some kind of survival – the fall of the barrier hadn’t had a good effect on everyone. The neon sign out front flashed in blue, red and green telling the by passers that it was open – offering some drink for those that had the money. I pushed the door opened and the dark room met me with the smell of cigarette smoke – even though there wasn’t any costumers. A jukebox was playing some old hits from what the human called the 50’s. It was good – having some swing to it. I went to the bar where an old man was standing – wiping a glass from what seemed to be the only clean cloth in there.  He had a black apron over a white shirt and grey hair, mustache and glasses. He was thin but had a kind soul – he always reminded me of Grillby in a way. When he saw me he nodded and poured up some whiskey in a glass with no ice – he knew by now what I wanted. I had been here several times before to let the alcohol help me to forget my problems a bit. When I sat down at the bar chair he put the glass in front of me.

“Hey, Gab. Everything okay?” He chuckled a bit as I imagined a grandfather would do when they found something funny.

“As usual. The business isn’t what it used to be – but it’s still early” he said with a hoarse voice that told a story about someone that had been smoking cigars and drinking whiskey in his early years. I took a sip of the amber colored liquid and felt the smoky flavor and the aftertaste that spoke of a time where it had been contained in a cherry cask for 24 years. I let my tongue roll it around before I let it slide down my throat, burning as it went down.

“How’s it been? Haven’t seen you around for some time now” he asked as he took up another glass to wipe it clean. I sighed and rotated the glass in my hand.

“Hectic. People I’ve tried to avoid suddenly moved to this city” I said. He nodded and watched when my hand reached for my necklace that Sans had given me.

“An old flame maybe?” he asked and nodded to the necklace – I looked down and smirked bit at his question. I had to stop doing that.

“Yeah, plus the people I once called family” I said and took up my packet of cigarettes and pulled one out before I lighted it. Gab, whose name was Gabriel, whistle at that.

“How long have you been avoiding them?” Gab was safe, he was a bartender and he had heard other people’s life stories for years.

“Seven years” I said as I exhaled the smoke from my lungs.

“I suspect that you’ve run in to them as you know that they have moved here” he stated as he looked at the cleaned glass. I chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah, and it wasn’t pretty. I panicked at first but later I cracked, then I went nuts. I’ve tried to avoid them, him for so long and now he has tried to find me ever since he saw me the first time” I told him and took another sip from the liquor and let it burn its way down.

“Why does he search for you then? Does he want to have you back or does he just want argue? Oh, maybe he’s a stalker!” I leaned down, letting my arms rest against the bar as I inhaled some more from my cigarette – ignoring that last guess.

“Closure I guess, even though he begged me to return to him” Gab looked at me as he tilted his head a bit.

“What did he do that made you ditch him? There must be a reason a reason for that” I sighed.

“He didn’t do anything. I was happy, I loved him and we had a home together with his little brother. I was a part of a family that loved me” the smoke that I exhaled made a beam before it slowly started to rise to the ceiling.

“So why did you leave them?” He furrowed his brow.

“I destroyed them… I wanted to keep them safe from something much worse and to do that I had to destroy them” I heard how Gab went around the bar and to the door before he turned off the sign so its neon lights stopped flashing and locked the door. He came back and put a bottle whiskey between us. I looked at him as he sat down.

“The night is long. So you left because you wanted to protect them – how did they react?” I smiled at Gab. He was a nice old man – he had wedding ring on his finger and I knew his wife was lucky to have this man as her partner.

“They… were devastated. Me too but I had to leave so I made them hate me or at least a few of them”

“But not your man I guess?”

“He’s not my man anymore, but yes everyone but him. During these seven years I’ve tried to forget about them and finally I thought I had but then – BOOM – here they are and one of them are going to the same school as my little brother” I made a motion with my arms making the image of an explosion with its movements. Gab was quiet for a moment before he poured up some more whiskey in my glass and his own.

“Fate isn’t fair” he stated and I nodded. “How did it feel when you met with him again?”

“Like I wanted to run away but at the same time be there. Depressed, scared and hopeful at the same time? I don’t know…” Gab took a sip from his drink and closed his eyes to enjoy it for a bit.

“It hurt as hell when we must do things that hurt us the most but is best for the ones we love” he said and twisted his wedding ring. He saw how I looked at him. “My wife went into a coma a few years back. A car accident where she saved a child. She became braindead and there wasn’t anything the doctors could do. It took me almost a year to end the life support and let her go” he said and my heart ached for him. Fate was surely not fair to those that needed it.

“I’m sorry” I said he smiled at me.

“Don’t be. We had a good life and I don’t regret a thing. I put her out of her misery. It was what she wanted – but without my daughter it would’ve been harder. She was the one convincing me that what I did in the end was the right thing to do” he said and took another sip from his glass. “What I mean is that family and those around us is the ones that makes us blind – we think we’re doing the right things but we don’t and ending up hurting them and ourselves. That was what happened to me. Family can also be the ones that supports us and tries to help even though we don’t want their help, but sometimes we need them anyway – I needed my daughter more than I could imagined back then. Do you understand what I mean?” He said. His words went straight into my heart and my thoughts went to Sans and everyone else. Sans wanted to help me and lift the burden of my shoulders – he wanted to understand.

“Maybe” I said and drank some more.

“Do you still love him?” Gab asked and snatched a cigarette from me. Memories of Sans puns, his snoring in the morning, how he hid under my pillows and blankets when I went to work to feel the warmth of me that was left, how he held me, his voice, his feelings, voice, everything made me smile and my heart beat harder in my chest. I could almost feel how his feelings for me felt – warm, comforting, almost hurting but still soft and light. As if we couldn’t breathe without one another.

“Yes” Gab patted my shoulder and smiled.

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem. If he still feels the same about you and you about him – things should solve themselves and if not, then he will be there with your family to help you. Family always stay together” he told me and I knew that he was right – even though there was other circumstances that made it impossible for me to leave Derek’s side. I lifted my glass to the old man – even though he was younger than me – and he did the same. I knew what I had to do.

“For family” I said.

“For family”

* * *

I stood outside the huge apartment complex where they lived. The night had come and stars twinkled above me. Inside of every window I could see movements of monsters that was making themselves ready for sleep. One by one the lights went out – making the streetlights the only source of light outside. I found myself wonder which apartment they lived in, if it had a balcony and if it was high above ground – did he often sit outside to read as he did when we lived together? In which of these rooms were Sans sleeping?

I felt the souls of sleeping monsters and of monsters that were still awake. The neighborhood was quiet and no one was out – serene as it had been in monster town. Trees whispered in the wind when the leaves moved and somewhere I could hear grasshoppers play their songs in the warm summer’s night. The night wasn’t dark and the moon was slowly rising in horizon even though it was late. I shoved my hands down my pockets of my leather jacket. My soul sang to me as if said that somewhere in these apartments was home.

A sudden movement in one of the apartments with balconies caught my eyes. Even though it was dark I could see the blue fabric of Sans hoodie and its fur lined edge. He leaned against the armrest and his skull was lighted up by his phone. He seemed down and tired by the look and stature of his body. Was he sleeping enough? Did he still have nightmares? Who held him through them? I inhaled some of the smoke in my cigarette, not caring to move out of the light or if he saw me standing here. I almost wanted him to see me. A sudden chime of my phone made it clear to me that I had a message waiting. I picked it up of my pocket and saw that it came from said skeleton.

_Sans: It’s hard without ya’ kid_

I smirked – even though it had been over seven years since he last texted me I, despite that I was older than him, he still called me kid. I looked up at him as I typed in an answer.

_Me: I know, bone boy_

I could hear his phone from where I stood even though he was so far away. He looked down at it and his expression for what I could see was in shock. He wasn’t prepared for an answer, so much I could tell.

_Sans: heh, didn’t expect to get a response from ya’…_

_Me: I can surprise some times. Do you sleep enough?_ He flinched a bit when he got the message and I chuckled a bit.

_Sans: Strange question coming from someone that left us in shreds seven years ago. Why do you ask or even care?_ I waited a bit before I answered – deciding for what I should do. I raised my phone, zoomed in and snapped a shot of his tired face, added it to the text message.

_Me: Deserved that one. You look tired though_

It took a bit longer for the message to reach him this time, but when he did he stared down into the phone before he looked down. Our eyes locked and I raised my hand a bit. He was in front of me in an instant just looking at me. He still had his phone in his hand.

“What are you doing here?” he asked – looking at me as if I was a ghost returning from the dead. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know to be honest. I was at a local bar drinking and then finding me here” I said and leaned against the lamppost. He tilted his skull when he saw the cigarette in the corner of my mouth. He shoved his hands down his pockets.

“Since when did you pick up smoking?”

“Since when did you become a bike kind of guy?” he snorted at that.

“When I became **tired** to drive a car” he said. I chuckled a bit.

“You already used that one” I said. It became quiet for a few seconds. Sans took a step towards me.

“I won’t bite, Sans” I said and threw away what was left of the cigarette, exhaling the smoke in the process.

“No, but you might run again, but I suspect that you have a reason to come here” he said. I looked into his sockets and nailed his white pinpricks to my red ones.

“I came to the conclusion that I owe you at least an explanation”

“What changed your mind?”

“An old man at a shady bar that was a better therapist than those on TV?” I tried. He smirked and he relaxed a bit. His eyes showed me how he felt. Those white pin pricks was focused on me through half lidded sockets and I knew how they would look if caressed his sternum or his ribs. I quickly pushed the image away. I nodded towards a bench.

“I don’t want to do this standing. Care to join me?” He smiled and nodded – following me close behind to the bench. We sat down and I looked up at the stars.

“So how do you want to do this?” he asked me.

“Why don’t you ask me questions and I try to give you the answers” I said. Sans looked up at the stars before the first question came.

“Why did you leave?”

“To protect you guys” I said closing my sockets as I felt the night wind against my chin and bones. Cool but not cold – soft and caressing.

“By attacking us, by killing Gaster?” The old guilt surfaced and I felt the sorrow take a hold of me when I remembered the old Royal Magician last words.

“By making you hate me. My first initial plan was to kill you and then turn back time. Gaster stepped in the way – and I couldn’t turn the time back … it still haunts me to this day. I think Gaster knew that I wouldn’t be able to turn it back” I said and leaned forwards – kicking away a rock. We both watched it bounce away at the asphalt. The jumps it did became smaller and short for every time it hit the ground.

“Is Mrs. Andersson your mother?” I nodded. “And Alexander your little brother?” I nodded again.

“She is. I never saw that at the party all those years ago. Why do you ask those questions? You already know the answers to those”

“Just to confirm what I already suspected. Why did you have to protect us?” he asked.

“They threatened to harm you guys. They promised me that they wouldn’t hurt you – instead they made me do it. They wanted me to destroy you, kill you – but I found a way around that” I said with small words.

“Why didn’t you lie?” he asked. I felt how he had moved closer and I could now feel the fabric from his hoodie against my jacket. I touched the collar at my neck – showing him the reason why.

“Because I swore an oath to never disobey any rules that the master gives. I was trapped, Sans, they had Frisk and I couldn’t use my magic. I was cornered. I had to swear the oath to save you, to save Frisk” Sans looked with sorrow in his eyes at me when he noticed the necklace.

“Who is making you do this?” I looked at him.

“Derek Andersson” I said and I saw Sans eyes widened before his socket became empty. Derek had done much for monster since they had come up from the Underground, he had compensated them generously when he had bought the land around MT Ebott.

“You really did this to save us, huh?” he said. I nodded and looked at my skeletal hands. “Why did he do it?”

“He wants power and money. He wanted my time magic so he could be successful. My mother gave him that opportunity” I saw how Sans clenched his hands in his pockets and I closed my sockets. Suddenly I felt how he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him and I let it happen. My body eased into him and inside I could feel my soul sing. He put his skull against mine.

“If I had known” he whispered to me and I sighed. This was how it was supposed to be – but it never would be.

“I altered Frisk’s memory – making them think that it was I who had hurt them. That was why I fought you guys” I burrowed my head into his jacket – sensing the familiar scent of him and ketchup. He still drank that stuff, huh?

“And how does Rick fit into all of this?” I drew my breath. This was it.

“Rick was there to help me the same night this happened. He has been there since that day – almost never leaving my side, not even at night”

“Have you…” his question left unspoken. I swallowed.

“Yes…” I felt how Sans arms pressed me tighter to him. He shivered with anger. Somethings primal could be heard from the inside of his hoodie.

“He loves you, you know that?” I nodded – feeling sorry for Rick.

“I know, but I can never return his feelings” I said. Sans became stiff.

“Why?” I didn’t answer but instead I let go of the barrier that held my soul and let him feel it instead. Every sad feeling, every year of the love I missed and every feeling I wanted to share with him. I felt how all this affected him when his body became relaxed but his grip on me tightened. He burrowed his head down into my hair and down to my neck when I felt how he shivered and trembled like a leaf.

“For crying out loud, girl” he whispered. I took a hold of his jacket – never wanting to let go. Just this one night.

“Now you know why” I whispered back. Sans turned me around and looked into my sockets with own.

“You were wrong” he said. I furrowed a brow and looked at him as he brushed away what appeared to be tears in my face.

“About what?”

“You aren’t a monster – you are still you” and then I felt his teeth against my lips. The tingling feeling traveled through me and lifted me to the skies above us. Warmth and heat that my soul had longed for from him. I tried to get a hold of him. This was where I belonged and where I should be. His hands caressed my chins and I just followed his lead as the heat became stronger between us. We had both longed for this. When he pulled away I groaned a bit and he chuckled. He leaned his forehead to mine.

“Can the oath be broken?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Not without death – if either I or Derek breaks the bond, we die” I told him. Sans looked at me and I saw in his eyes that he didn’t accept that. “and I have other obligations now. My little brother. He needs me Sans. I can’t just leave him with them so I can be with you” I felt how his own soul trembled at my answer but his face was determined.

“I won’t let go – I promised you that. You’ve suffered enough on your own. I promised Gaster to make you happy and that is what I will do” he said. His words made me wonder if he would be able to do that.

“Sans –“

“I will bring you back. You will not have to bear this all of your own. What kind of family would leave one of their own?”

“But what if Alex will be –“

“Syl, babe. Not every person can be saved and doesn’t deserve it either but this I promise you. I will find a way to make this alright again. Make it alright for both of you” and then he kissed me again and sent my feelings up to the skies once more. For the first time I felt hope for the future. Even though I knew that it never would happen to me.

* * *

A black Ford Mustang was standing in the darkness a bit from the couple on the bench. When he saw them kiss he was filled with jealousy and anger. It was eating him up from the inside – like a disease – and he knew what he had to do. He dialed the number. The signal went off two times before a woman answered on the other end.

“Yes?”

“I have a job for you”


	7. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter. My computer died after I had published the 6th one and when I had started editing the 7th one. -.-'  
> Here is the 7th one at least. Will soon start the 8th one and hopefully be done before next weekend.
> 
> Stay awsome!  
> Love you all!
> 
> PurpleNightSOng

The guests around the bar was slowly leaving for the night as Grillby was cleaning some glass’ that had been washed and was about to be put to their rightful places. Dogamy and Dogressa was still sitting by their table together with Lesser Dog and Greater Dog, while Doggo was laying on the floor – passed out from all he had been drinking during the evening. Both humans and monster were frequently visiting his bar now and he knew that the other establishment he had founded - had been successful. He had all he ever could wanted – a daughter, a business that went well and friends that cared for him and others. He let his fire crackle with enjoyment as he corrected his glasses. He was content with his life.

Suddenly a bell chimed and he looked to the door where two humans had appeared – one with a black trench coat and black hair, pale as a sheet – the other one just wearing his clothing and the color of his hair resembled that of a violet flower. They looked around and the taller one with the trench coat bent over to his comrade and whispered something into his ear. The one with purple hair turned his gaze towards the bar where Grillby was standing. _Trouble._ The one more muscular one walked over and gave Grillby a smirk.

“A beer” he said plainly and Grillby noticed that there was something with this man that reminded him of someone else. The taller one was right behind him and ordered a whiskey. Grillby turned around and grabbed a cold bottle of beer from the fridge and took another bottle from the shelf above him. When he turned around he saw that the eye color of the man was red – almost the same color as the blood of the humans. Contact lenses. The man leaned in a bit – resting his elbows at the counter. The fire monster gave the man the bottle with beer and served the other one a glass of whiskey. The both of them looked around, studying their surroundings and every monster and human that was still inside even though it was nearing closing time. The one with purple hair noticed that the fire elemental watched them and he turned to him with a smug grin.

“Hey crackles, we won’t do anything shady – you can take it easy” he said with his deep voice and Grillby just nodded as he put away a cleaned glass before he picked up another one. But he stopped in his tracks after a moment. What had he called him? Crackles? It brought up memories of a friend from a time long ago. Grillby turned around and met the man’s eyes once more. This time he had a mischievous grin on his face and Grillby just raised one of his flaming eyebrows. He walked around the bar and told the remaining guests that he was closing up early. He had to talk to these humans alone. When the last of the guests had gone out the front door, Grillby locked it and turned the sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’. The men that was left was now leaning with their backs against the bar – watching the flame monster in front of them. The muscular one took another sip from his beer before he made a grimace of disgust and put the bottle on the bar.

“What is wrong with the beer these days, W?” He asked and glanced over to his companion. The dark and calmer one didn’t even give him a glance.

“Stop complaining and focus on what is important” he said. Grillby watched them before his flames became stronger and warmer around him. He had to be sure. The man with the purple hair turned to the flame monster and chuckled a bit.

“Figured it out yet, crackles? At least you have a theory or else you wouldn’t be standing there – threatening us” he pushed away from the bar and cracked his neck and knuckles before he gave the monster a smug grin. “Welp, seems to me that it is time to prove your theory right or wrong” and at that the human flung himself at Grillby.

* * *

I watched as Alex was playing with some of his action figures on the floor of my apartment as I let my mind slip away to the night a few days ago. My skeletal fingers moved up to my lips as if Sans kiss still lingered there. What had I done? That was never supposed to happen but it had. I wanted to protect them and not bring them to their demise – but instead I had done the opposite. I swallowed. All I could hope for was that no one had seen what had happened – at least no one that mattered.

A sudden chime of the doorbell woke me up from my heavy thoughts and I looked at the watch hanging on the wall. It was far too early for my mother to pick him up – maybe it was Derek that wanted to spend some time with his son, but I doubted that. I rose from my seat and walked to the door and looked straight into the eyes of Rick. He was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. His hair was messy and it almost seemed like he wasn’t getting any sleep anymore. I raised my brow in surprise when I saw him.

“Shit man, you look like crap” I told him and he just smirked a little as his eyes focused on me and my face.

“I have to talk to ya’, do you have a moment?” he asked and looked inside where we could hear Alex play. I threw a glance over my shoulder and called back into my younger brother.

“I will just step outside for a moment Alex. If you need anything you know where you can find me” I told him. Alex didn’t respond but I knew he could hear me. I went outside to the corridor and closed the door behind me. Rick looked at me and he leaned against the wall with his hand on his forehead. He closed his eyes and bit his lips. He must be in some kind of trouble or else he wouldn’t look like this. I watched him.

“What has happened Rick? Is someone after you again?” I asked and crossed my arms over my chest looking at him with my red pinpricks. He opened his eyes once more before he spoke and looked at me with pain in his eyes.

“Syl, where were you a couple of nights ago?” he asked and I felt my soul become cold. He knew or else he wouldn’t ask. I knew Rick by now and he never asked questions that he rarely knew the answer to.

“Rick…” I tried and looked away.

“Syl, you must stop this before it gets you and me killed in the process” he said with a hoarse voice. I looked at him and my eyes became cold.

“What do you mean, Rick?” I asked him.

“I saw you and Sans a few nights ago. For fuck sake Syl, what does that bone bag have that I don’t?” I had an eerie feeling crawling up my back. Something wasn’t right.

“Rick, we’ve been through this before. I can’t be with you – it would never wok betw – “

“But it would work between you and that skeleton freak?!” he suddenly yelled at me. His face was desperate and he was angry.

“Be careful what you’re saying. I’m part skeleton monster myself and you know that. No, it wouldn’t work out between me and Sans – not as it is of now” I snarled at him and looked at him. This man that once had shared my bed was now standing in front of my filled with hatred and jealousy. This wasn’t the man I had met and learned to see as my only friend in this. There was a darkness emitting from him as if he was possessed by an inner demon that was riding his back – driving him crazy.

“Good, I’ve seen to it so it never will ever happen in the future either” he said in a dark and low voice. All the blood that was in my face drained and looked at him.

“What have you done, Rick?” I asked him. He just gave me an evil grin. He looked so much like Derek now that it scared me. He was supposed to be the good guy, why had he turned out like this.

“I’ve seen to so Sans will hate you and never wants to be with you. One common thing you both care about” my sockets widened. He wasn’t going after Sans directly – he wanted him to suffer and be filled with hate and anger. No, his target was someone else. First I thought about Papyrus but I knew that he was hard to beat – and then it hit me.

“Frisk…” I whispered and all he did was smirking. I looked at him.

“Soon the monster ambassador will be no more and Sans won’t want to be with you anymore and then you don’t have any other to turn to than me” my clenched skeletal hand made contact with his cheek and I could hear bone crack under it. Rick hit the wall hard – making an indent in the concrete.

“YOU IDIOT! DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BE WITH THE MAN THAT CAUSE MY FAMILY PAIN? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?” I yelled and quickly went inside – leaving Rick in a pile on the floor, groaning.

“They aren’t your family anymore…” I heard him whisper behind my back.

“Fuck you” was all I said to him.

 Alex looked up at me and he was worried as he had heard me scream outside. I reached out my hand to him. The promise I had given myself – never to involve Alex in my business – I had to break.

“Alex listen to me; this is very important. I have to do something that I promised myself that you never would have to see. You have to come with me and we have to teleport. You must promise me to hold on and you must not let go – never let go of me Alex, understood?” I said and Alex you looked at me before he nodded and rose from the floor – dropping his toys in the process.

“Where are we going?” he asked me with a more mature voice than I wished for him to have at his age.

“We must save Frisk. When we arrive, promise me to stay where I put you, understand?” he just nodded. He took a firm grip of my hand and I picked him up before I opened up a rift and stepped into the void.

* * *

Frisk sighed before they looked up into the sky filled with clouds heavy with rain. They should’ve taken an umbrella with them before they went to the store to shop for tonight’s dinner. They closed their eyes and pushed some of the walnut colored hair behind their ear and started to walk. They had been living here for a few weeks and much had changed during them. Sylfaen was living here and she was alive. Even though Frisk felt fear when they had seen her they couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong when it came to the memory where Sylfaen used violence against them to get a hold of their powers. They started to believe Sans’ theory that maybe she was innocent. Frisk had also seen how she had treated her younger brother. Sylfaen had the same look when she held him as she had when she held Frisk once. Love. She loved her little brother over everything else. How could someone so evil love so deep? It didn’t add up.

Frisk’s thoughts turned back to their uncle though, wondering how this was affecting him. Sans had been down for several months before he returned to something that maybe could resemble him after Syl’s betrayal. He had been quiet and they had feared that he would fall down once more when Sylfaen wasn’t there to drag him back up, but he held on. Even though it hurt to see him so down. He had truly loved her – Frisk didn’t want to ever see him like that again. Undyne had tried to give him courage and sooth him with that Syl couldn’t be his true soulmate as she had broken the bond. A soulmate bond couldn’t be broken. That had made everything worse though and Papyrus had to be with Sans for several days – hoping for him to eat and sleep and at the same time worrying if he would wake up again.

As the years passed Sans became more himself or at least a shadow of it and he started to look for her at every corner of the earth but he always came back empty handed and in the end he gave up. He told everyone that she wasn’t worth the trouble but Frisk knew – he never lost hope. At late evenings when he thought that no one saw – he always looked at the leather bracelet with the heart shaped ruby, hoping to see some light in it. It never shone though.

Now when they had finally met Syl – she had changed and wasn’t anything Frisk remembered her to be. Hard. Cold. Emotionless, but not when it came to her brother.

Sans had gotten his wittiness back and he tried hard every night to search for her so he could talk to her again – trying to get her back even though Frisk didn’t knew if it was a good or bad idea. They had promised though that they would keep that a secret from their mom and dad. They would get into a rage if they knew that Syl was in the same city. Toriel wouldn’t stop her search before she had ripped of the half breed’s head and served it in a silver plate to Asgore.

Frisk sighed. This was starting to get very complicated and they just wanted everything to be back to how it used to be. They missed Syl – she had been like a big sister to them. She knew the feeling how it was to not fit in to a society – how it was to be loathed and hated for what they were by their own kind.

Frisk came into the park where they always walked through to get to the apartment complex – it was getting dark and there wasn’t any monsters or humans out now. The autumn was nearing and the trees had started to shift in colors to those of red, brown yellow and orange. They looked up and they could see the starts above them twinkling in the skies as if they was saying hello.

Suddenly a chuckle was heard through the darkness. It sent a tremble through Frisk’s body as if a pearl of clean ice was running down their back.

“Have you seen, brother? A small one this time. So cute” a woman spoke in the darkness to the left of Frisk. They turned to the sound but they couldn’t see anything in the darkness even though the lamp posts cast some light at the road Frisk was standing on.

 “I see sister, it’s almost a shame this time” a voice of a man was heard to the right. Frisk turned again and looked around – still nothing.

“They seem nervous about not seeing us, should we show ourselves? They won’t be a danger” The voice of the woman echoed between the trees. Frisk dropped the bags and started to back off from the sound.

“I think it would be a good idea” Frisk heard the voice right behind them. When they turned around they saw a tall man with almost white skin and black hair. He was dresses in black leather with red strips running across his chest. He had an emotionless face and his ice blue eyes showed noting but evil. Frisk swallowed and backed away from him.

“For once we agree at something, my dear brother” the woman said and Frisk saw now how a figure started to appear beside the other man. She was almost dressed like him except that the stripes over her chest were blue instead of red. She had long curly blond hair and a scar running from the corner of her mouth on the right side of her eye and up to her forehead. She had a slender build and red lips. She was beautiful but there was something wrong with her essence – as if she was mad or insane. She was just not right.

“W – who are you?” Frisk stuttered and tried to back away. The woman put a slender hand in front of her mouth before she laughed.

“Who we are, little one, you don’t need to know. All you need to know is that you have a price on you pretty little head” she said with a singing voice as she swirled around her brother that was standing still – not moving a muscle.

“You’re almost spilling everything anyway, my dear sister” he said with a cold voice as he reached for something on his back and Frisk looked at him with fear in their face as he pulled out a blade – not quite a sword but not a dagger either. “Remember why we are here”

The woman looked at her brother and she pouted with her mouth before she sighed a bit and reached for a belt around her thigh and Frisk could see several knives in the belt. They widened their eyes. This was just not happening.

“Don’t be concerned brother, I have not forgotten why we’re here” she said and picked her fingernails with the knife. Frisk followed the movement – their legs and muscles frozen to the ground. Fear was crawling and clawing the inside of them. The woman looked at them and an insane smile crept up her face before she licked her lips.

“If you stand still, I promise we will be quick” she hissed. At that Frisk’s legs got their strength back and they turned on the place and ran in between the trees. Behind them, Frisk could hear them talk.

“Aww brother, they’re running away” the woman said in a disappointed tone.

“Good, I like them running” the man said. Frisk panicked at that and begged for their legs to move faster. The air in the lungs clawed and burned in the throat and their heart pumped with adrenalin.

Like burning iron something cut Frisk’s wrist and made them stumble to the ground. The impacted made them lose their breath and pant for air.

“Aww, I hoped for a fight at least – they didn’t even give us that” the woman’s voice were straight above them so Frisk turned their head towards it just to meet by a foot rushing towards the head.

The power of the kick made it ring in Frisk’s ear and the taste of blood were strong in their mouth – the pain were hard to ignore. The jaw were broken somewhere. Tears started to run and when the couple heard the tears of fear another kick came flying – making their body fly into a tree trunk. Bone cracking and breaking – making it hard to breath.

“W- why?” they asked and the man suddenly was standing above them with his blade risen above his shoulder.

“We have a call – a destiny to fulfill. Purify the world of the filth that has emerged once again” Frisk tried to smile before they uttered what they thought were their last words.

“I forgive you…” the expression in the man’s face turned from calm to angry in an instant.

“I don’t need your forgiveness. We don’t need your approval for existing” he simply said and let the blade fall. Frisk closed their eyes – waiting for the pain.

But it never came.

“You forgive to easily, kid” they heard a voice of a woman who’s anger was contained in it. Frisk opened their eyes and saw Syl standing in front of them with her arm stretched out – shielding them from the blade that was now cutting into the bone of her arm an inch or two.

“Scum like these – people like these with no identity should not ever be forgiven” she stated. The man gritted his teeth before he opened his mouth.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked. Syl watched him before an eerie smile crept up on her face – making her bone structure more prominent in her face. The man suddenly backed away when he saw the glowing red orbs in her sockets when the cool breeze brushed away her red hair. Syl’s right eye started to flare as the red pinprick in her left disappeared and left an empty black socket – filled with void.

“I’m your worst nightmare…” she said and suddenly the man was covered with the red mist that was her magic. She sent him flying across the clearing they were in. As he hit a tree on the other side the man’s sister yelled in rage.

“You freak! Who are you? You don’t have a price on your head so a monster like you should leave as soon as you can!” Syl looked down and her shoulders were shaking with laughter. When she looked up at the woman standing beside her injured brother – she licked her lips.

“Monster? Child, don’t you know who I’m by now? I told you I’m your worst nightmare. I know monster hunters know me and what they tell you about me” she said as she slowly took off her black gloves – revealing her skeleton hands. Frisk felt how it was getting hard to focus on the scene but they tried to stay awake – the pain helped a bit. The blond woman’s eyes widened as she suddenly realized whom Syl was. Her grin widened as she picked up some throwing knives.

“Brother, she is the Skeleton witch, the one with the highest price on her head!” she said. The brother looked up and suddenly he was smiling again. Their eyes were glowing with a need that only Syl could satisfy.

“Enough talking – lets end her and that child before anyone sees us” the brother said and rose from the ground. Syl looked down at Frisk and uttered a few words. A red glowing orb covered them and Frisk knew that they were being protected.

“Stay here Frisk, this will soon be over with” she said. Frisk nodded – they knew that their big sister would protect them.

 

I looked at the monster hunters before me. I thought their kind were dead but their clan must’ve been resting all those years the monster sealed underground. I clenched my fist and tried to ignore the pain in my bone. The blade had made a cut in it and my magic was slowly draining from it. That was what their weapons did – drained the monsters of their powers and when I was part monster it would also affect me. I had do end this quickly.

The woman made the first move by throwing the knives at me but all I did was stepping aside from it – what I didn’t had count on was that the man was moving fast. His blade went past my face by an inch and I could feel the wind from the moving object. I quickly summoned a wall of bones from the ground – making them jump upwards. I smiled. Their souls could be seen and all I had to do was grab them. The red mist covered them and they hit ground hard.

A sudden pain from the thigh made me look down – a throwing knife was sitting there and I could see how the blood was pouring from the wound. I bit my lip as I pulled it out. The pain was stronger than normal and that was because of their weapons. I looked up as the siblings was already standing up and coming at me again. The woman quickly threw a punch at me but I ducked and imbued my skeleton fist with magic – sending her flying once more as it made contact with her stomach. She should have been born a bird instead. The brother on the other hand kicked me at the thigh where my wound was. I felt to the ground in pain and looked up just to meet a knee right into my face. My nose broke and I could feel my lip split. Blood was flowing down my face. Someone was grabbing me from behind – holding me steady as the man rose his blade.

“DO IT BROTHER! IT WILL BE OUR GREATEST VICTORY EVER!” The woman said above me with a maniacal voice. The man just smirked at his sister before he let the blade he was holding fall.

The pain was tremendous as the blade cut into my side – separating muscles, veins and tendons from each other, my magic flowing out of me as the blood colored the ground red.

_So this is it then?_ I asked myself – but Chara heard it and answered.

_No it isn’t! You promised! Are you going to break it?_ I smirked internally as the woman let go of me and I fell to the ground. The shield around Frisk fell – leaving them unprotected. I glanced in their direction.

_You know I’ve never been good with promises. I’m sorry Frisk…_ I felt how Chara struggled to get control over my body – but she couldn’t because it was too weak at this point. I had been reckless – I had underestimated them. That was my biggest mistake. I saw how they started to walk towards Frisk as my vision began to fade – become dark. Tendrils of darkness crawling into view as I felt the coldness taking a grip over my body. The void was finally calling.

“SIS!” a young boy’s voice cut through the darkness and made everything crystal clear again. Alex. I still had to protect Alex.

“LET ME GO!”

“What have we here? A sibling to the freak?” The woman’s voice cooed and I snapped my head towards her. The rage filled me like lava as I saw her dirty hands on my little brother – gripping his collar in the front of his shirt. He was grasping his tiny hands around the woman’s wrist. His face stained with tears. He kicked and yelled – trying to get out of her hold. Why had he left his hiding place? Why didn’t he listened?

“Silence him, sister. We can’t leave any witnesses” the man said as he whipped of his blade in the grass. The woman smiled and picked up one of her knives with the free hand she had. I gritted my teeth.

“Don’t touch him with your filthy hands, you bitch!” I said to her. The woman turned a bit when she heard that I was still talking. She just smiled.

“On three brother?”

“On three” the both of them raised their weapons.

“One” said the woman.

“Two” said the man.

“THREE!” they said at the same time.

“NO!”

_NO!_

At that I felt how I was torn apart as I lounged forward to my brother and opening a rift, calling a dragon – the alpha. The huge skeleton dragon got a hold of the woman’s middle without hurting my brother. She screamed in fear and dropped him. I caught Alex in my arms and pressed him to my chest. He was breathing – he was alive but someone else wouldn’t be soon.

“Close your ears, sweetie” I whispered and he did as he was told. I looked at the alpha as she searched for my eyes. I just nodded as she bit her jaws down on the woman and split her in half. The sound of bone crushing sent shivers down my spine but the smell I could do without. Blood ran down the alpha’s cheek – coloring the white bone red in the process. She growled a bit – the woman hadn’t even had a chance to scream before she had met her maker – who ever that was. Her face filled with fear would haunt me till the end of days but I had gotten my revenge. No one put their hands on my brother.

Then I remembered Frisk. I turned quickly and the alpha faded away from my sight and my eyes I had a hard time believing. The man was standing on his knees with a knife in his back and a child was standing in front of him. She was maybe thirteen years old with the same color of hair as Frisk, red eyes, rosy cheeks and an eerie smile on her face. She had brown shorts and a green and yellow striped shirt. Chara. The man was trembling before he coughed up some blood. He snarled at the child.

“This isn’t over yet! There is more of us!” Chara just laughed at him. She reached for the knife but the man picked something out of his pocket and he vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

Chara coughed a bit before she looked at me and smiled. She came to me and laid a hand on Alex’s head. She was manifested – not just a form of illusion as she had been before – she had flesh and bone. She was real.

“Is he okay?” she asked and I nodded.

“How?” I asked her.

“I don’t know but it won’t last. I can already feel how I’m fading away” She looked at me with serious eyes. “Syl, listen to me. You have to take Frisk to mom so she can heal them. Take Alex with you. Derek and Rick has started something they can’t control and none is safe anymore – not even Alex” I breathed for a moment.

“What do you mean?” I asked. What did Chara know? She shook her head.

“We can talk about that later but now you have to take Frisk to Toriel…” she said. I nodded. I put Alex down and looked at him. He was trembling. I gritted my teeth as the pain in my side made itself reminded. I had to stop the bleeding – but Frisk needed care first. 

“Hey there champ, listen to me. We have to take Frisk to their mom, okay? I have to carry them so you have to walk beside me. Think you can keep up?” I said. He nodded and put on a brave face. My brave little warrior. I looked up and Chara was gone. If she had faded or gone away to enjoy her temporary body I didn’t know. I looked at Frisk – they had passed out. I picked them up and looked down on my brother. What was our lives turning into?

* * *

Sans was sitting on the couch while Toriel, Papyrus and Undyne was making the dinner and waiting for Frisk. Sans looked at the watch again and started to feel uneasy. The kid had been gone for almost two hours and he had felt magic in the near park. Asgore and Alphys was talking about politics and everything was as it had been for the last seven years – a mask. Everyone tried to play house and not touching the subject of Sylfaen near Sans even though he knew they talked about her when he wasn’t around.

He sighed. He thought about his meeting with Syl just a few days ago and it still sent shivers through him – how she had felt in his hands and how she had trembled. Her hair and her skin – her lips on hit sensitive bones.

He looked down on his bracelet. He thought that he had seen some small light in it earlier today but he wasn’t sure. It shouldn’t shine at all because she had severed their bond – they were no longer soulmates.

The bell on the apartment door announced that Frisk had returned and Asgore walked towards the door. He opened it and his huge body covered the entrance but Sans just lazily zapped through the channels on the TV – until he heard Asgore call for Toriel in a panicked tone. Sand looked towards the door again and widened his eyes. Asgore had stepped aside and in front of him stood Alexander, Syl’s little brother and behind him was his big sister with Frisk in her arms. Sans saw blood – much blood and he didn’t know who it came from. Syl had a blank expression on her face – her pinpricks blurry, as if she didn’t see them at all.

Toriel came rushing out from the kitchen and looked at what was standing there – Sans could see that she had a hard time process the scene. Alex looked from the monsters to his sister. He was crying and he had panic in his voice when he spoke.

“Please! Frisk’s mom, help them! They’re hurt!” Sans quickly teleported to the kid and put a hand on his shoulder. His shirt was stained with blood and his face covered with dirt – the face striped from where the tears were running down. Toriel just stood there with hate filling her eyes when she looked at Syl – the woman she once had considered a part of their family.

“Why aren’t you doing anything?! THEY WILL DIE!” Alex screamed in fear and San quickly picked him up. He trembled in his arms and snuggled his face into the fabric of Sans jacket. “They will die…” he whispered into it. Sans turned to Asgore. He patted the kid on the back and glanced at Syl standing there – not taking in anything.

“Asgore, take Frisk. They need healing” he said and just like that Asgore snapped out of his trance. He nodded and he gently picked Frisk out of Syl’s arms. Syl did let go of the kid and her arms fell to her sides – she still stared straight forward with that empty expression. As soon as Asgore stepped away from her, Toriel summoned a fire ball in her hand.

“How dare you come here?! How dare you to hurt my child once more?!” Syl didn’t answer. Suddenly a spear of blue magic came flying – scratching the side of Syl’s cheek revealing both her sockets. Toriel drew a breath and widened her eyes and put her hands before her mouth. She stared at her face with fear and surprise.

“What have ha-“

“What are you doing here you traitor? Don’t ya’ think you’ve done enough damage already?” Undyne came forward and took a grip of Syl’s black leather jacket. The former captain of the royal guard gritted her teeth and her whole expression showed blood llust. No reaction. It was now Sans knew something was wrong. Syl’s pinpricks started to become black – slowly fading away.

“Syl, what have –“ At that moment he knew what Alex had meant with ‘they’ – it wasn’t just Frisk that needed healing. He felt fear rip through him when he saw the pool of blood gathering on the floor under her feet. Syl’s sockets became bl<ck and hollow – filled with void as she became like a piece of fabric in Undyne’s hand. Then he saw the huge gap in her side – blood and something that looked like magic manifested. The leather jacket was ripped and showing of the wound with muscles, bones and veins.

“Nononononononono!” Sans quickly put Alex down and pushed Undyne away as he grabbed the woman he still loved. He fell to the floor with Syl in his arms as he pressed his skeletal hand against the gaping wound at her side. He grabbed her hand with the other – through it he could feel her life slipping away.

“I’m… sorry…” he could hear a faint voice.

“Please, don’t do this… don’t leave me again. Stay with me, babe. Listen to my voice, don’t close your eyes. Please” Sans felt his own tears fall down his cheek.

“I’m sorry… for everything” and with that, Syl closed her eyes.

“Syl? Syl, babe, please wake up! SYL!”

* * *

The darkness swallowed her and not even the dragons greeted her. It was dark, it was cold, it was lonely.

She curled up and cried – calling for the person that resided in her heart.

_But no one came._


	8. Within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to 'TheKursed' here on AO3   
> Thank you for your nice comments and how you always make me smile when you send a comment :) You're awsome in every way possiable - stay that way. It's beacuse of readers like you that makes me want to write! :)   
> Thank you once more
> 
>  
> 
> So here is chapter eight. I hope you will like it. I've been working on it since last week and I've tried really hard with this. Its a bit longer than usual - but I've never recived a complaint about my chapter being too long :)
> 
> Read and enjoy!
> 
> Remember to be awsome!  
> Love you all <3
> 
> PurpleNightSong

Sans looked at the body that was Syl – laying in the bed. After her collapse, Asgore had helped Sans to put some bandages on the wound and stopped the bleeding – but she was still weak. Even though the bleeding had stopped she wasn’t waking up. It had gone over twelve hours since it had happened and Sans hadn’t left her side during the whole time. Neither had Alex – even though he was sleeping in a beanbag at the side of the bad. Sans had put a blanket over him – he knew Syl would have his skull on a silver plate id he didn’t take care of him.

Sans observed at her face – it looked like she was going to wake up at any given moment and great him with her smile. Her chest rose and fell with her slow breaths while her skeletal hands rested on her sides. Sans bent forward – resting his elbows on his kneecaps and gripping his skull. He felt useless. What would he do if she died on him now when he finally had found her again? What would he tell Alex? He couldn’t save her seven years ago and he couldn’t save her now either. Why had fate to be so unfair? What crime had they both committed to make this happen?

He felt a big and furry hand press down on his shoulder and he looked up to meet the kings soft black eyes. Asgore looked both sad and pained as if suffered with Sans and knew what he was going through. His own child was laying in the room across the hall still unconscious from what ever had happened earlier – they were healed but safe and tired. The king had tried to talk to the small child but Alex refused to tell them anything until his big sister woke up. This event had taken its toll on everyone – ripping up old scars that had healed – or at least it seemed like they had healed. To see Frisk in the same state as seven years ago made everyone worry. Sans on the other hand knew that the child would be okay so he turned his feelings of worry against the woman in his bed.

He had pleaded and begged Toriel for help to heal her but the queen had refused to such a thing to the woman that had hurt her child. She didn’t even want to look at her. In her mind the bad guy was Syl – she even thought that Syl was the perpetrator too. In the end Sans had turned to his little brother for help and Papyrus had done as Sans had asked – only to make his older brother happy. Papyrus had succeeded to stop the bleeding completely but he had not been able to close the wound because it was so deep.

“How is she doing, my friend?” Asgore asked him with a low voice and sat down on the chair beside Sans. The former Judge of the Hall of Judgement sighed and closed his sockets as he tried to push away stinging tears.

“She’s… breathing, but that’s all” Asgore looked at the woman he had put in the prison cave over two millennia ago, the woman that had cursed his children and killed her former lover – his friend. The king knew that he had to do what he was about to do. He took a deep breath and Sans looked at him.

“Sans… I know that you have never forgotten her during these seven years – no one has – and I suspect that you have met up with her again after we moved here”

“How did you know?” Sans asked. Asgore smiled a little.

“You didn’t look surprised that she was standing outside our door – just worried. But Sans, I need to know, I beg of you to tell me what is going on. I ask this of you as a friend and not as your king” Asgore sighed and watched how his friend’s shoulder sunk a bit. Sans took a deep breath even though he didn’t need it, reaching for Syl’s hand while the other one brushed away a blood red strand of her hair from the face – making his phalanges touch her skin, revealing the faint pulsating magic under it. After that he looked up at Asgore.

“Have ya’ ever heard of the Witches Collar?” Asgore’s eyes widened a bit.

“Yes. It was a tool for the humans to control their magic users back when I was young. The human king used it a lot during the war. The necklace made the bearer stronger and more powerful but at a price – they had to give up their freedom, obeying every order the king gave. The magicians that sealed under Mt Ebott were bearer of those kind of jewelry” Sans pointed at the leather necklace with the silver amulet around Syl’s throat.

“She was forced into that kind of agreement – she was forced to swear that oath. Asgore, she did it to protect us – to save Frisk seven years ago” Sans told him and Asgore bent forward to look at the band.

“You mean that she made a contract with a human to save us? But Sans, that is impossible. The knowledge of the Witches Collar has been long lost to the humans – even just a handful of monster even know that it ever existed. I suspect that the last human king took the knowledge with him to the grave” Sans shook his skull.

“One human survived the war and all those years – a magician. She even knew about Syl’s powers with time and space” Asgore looked shocked.

“But whom, Sans? The only way for a magician to last that long is if they do not transfer their power to their child”

“She couldn’t transfer her powers to her child because she locked her in with us” Asgore showed a surprised face and stopped breathing for a second.

“You meant that Sylfaen’s mother is still alive – one of the magicians that sealed us under Mt Ebott… then this child must be…”

“Her little brother – her mother remarried and got a child. Say, don’t you think Mrs. Andersson has gotten old fast these past couple of years?”

“So the master is…”

“Derek Andersson…” Asgore couldn’t believe it but he had no reason to mistrust Sans and if he trusted Syl’s explanation, so did he. Sans took a deep trembling breath as the tears slowly gathered in his sockets again.

“Asgore, you must convince Toriel to heal her. I’ve search for her for so long and I promised her to find a way to break the bond. I can’t break that promise…” Asgore watched his friend in the blue jacket before he spoke.

“Do you not know that you can break it by connecting with her soul – her inner self?” the short skeleton quickly turned to his king and friend. His none-existing heart started to pump behind his ribs.

“I can break it?” Asgore nodded.

“If you enter her being – her soul – and find what is her, you might be able to but she must be healed for it work. Any outer damage will put unnecessary stress on both your and her soul” Sans let his jaw dropped. It seemed like it would take much of him as a monster and he was famous for being lazy – but not this time. He would go through anything to save her.

“I will talk to Toriel. You have to get some sleep and rest your soul, gather up some strength – those that have made the journey to break these kind of bonds have spoken of how it has taken their toll on them” Sans raised his eyebrow.

“Thank you Asgore, but may I ask you who has done this kind of stuff before?”

“No problems, my friend. The monster that have made this kind of journey before is no other than Grillby himself. Ask me no more. Rest” The goat monster rose from his chair and walked out the room before he closed the door behind him. Sans turned to his woman once more – leaning in so his upper body would rest on the bed while he held her skeletal hand.

“Wait for me, babe. I’m coming for ya’. I will bring ya’ home to everyone” he whispered and closed his sockets to get some well needed sleep, never letting go of her hand.

He would never let go.

* * *

Alex woke up when he heard shouting outside the room. He nudged the sleep out of his eyes and looked around in the room. He must have fallen asleep in the beanbag and the nice skeleton monster must have put the blanket over him. He watched the bed where the Sans and his big sister were sleeping. She hadn’t moved at all. Why hadn’t she moved? All Alex could remember was that there had been much blood. His sisters blood and then she had collapsed. Sans was laying with his upper body in the bed while he held his big sister’s hand. Alex knew that she loved that monster, a different kind of love than she had for him – even different from the one his mother and father had for each other. Alex felt a bit jealous over the feeling his sister had for this monster but he also knew that he couldn’t fill the empty space she had in her heart. Only this monster could.

The shouting got louder and it sounded like Frisk’s mom and dad. Why were they fighting? Why did everyone have to fight? Why couldn’t everyone be nice to one another? Alex rose up from the beanbag and quietly walked to the door and opened it. Alex saw how the living room was empty except from the goat monsters. The female monster looked agitated while the male looked sad.

“I refuse, Asgore! You saw what she did to Frisk all those years ago! You saw what shape they were in when she brought them here!” Were they talking about Alex’s big sister? Had she hurt Frisk a long time ago? He had a hard time believing it. Alex continued to watch.

“Tori, please. She will die otherwise. She is under the influence of the Witches Collar that Derek Andersson forced her to” Alex felt uneasy. Was his sister going to die if this monster didn’t do anything? What had his father made his sister to do?

“I don’t believe you! Even if she is, she still cursed you and Gaster two thousand years ago! She is the reason why Asriel and Chara is dead!” Chara? Did they know Chara? Was this Chara’s mother too? Alex had only met Chara a few times before and he knew that she was residing inside of his sister. Another thought passed his mind – his sister was over two thousand years old. That couldn’t be – in that case his mother was… It became too much for the small child that left his hiding place behind the door. He ran passed Asgore – flailing his small hands towards Toriel.

“NO! You’re lying! You can’t let sis die! You’re talking like she is a bad person but she isn’t! She is the best person in the world!” He cried now and he hit Toriel in the front. Asgore quickly scooped him up in his big arms as Alex struggled to get loose from his prison. Toriel on the other hand just looked shocked – as if she had forgotten about the small child.

“Sister? Is Sylfaen your sister, child?” She asked with her paws in front of her mouth. Alex still tried to get out of the giants arms.

“She saved Frisk and you won’t even look at her! She told me you were the good guys – that you were family! She missed you! She tried not to show it but she don’t know that I know! But now I don’t understand why she missed you! You are not good! You are bad!” Toriel winced when the hard words from the child hit her. She collect her quickly and walked towards him and Asgore.

“Child, understand. She has done so much wrong in he – “

“That doesn’t make it okay to let her die! My sister is a good person – maybe she was bad before but she is good now! She cares for me when my mom and dad won’t! She sings me to sleep and she helps me with my homework when I don’t understand even though she has a hard time to read it sometimes! She told me that an old friend to her taught her to read and that it is important! She tries her best!” Alex cried big tears so he turned to Asgore and buried his face into his shirt. The child let go of his sadness as Asgore patted the child on the back in a try to sooth him.

“Toriel, the child speaks the truth and you know it. If she was truly evil to you really believe that she would care for this child? If you do not do this you will regret this – and if you do this I promise you that you will get the whole story but you have to heal her first or else this brave little warrior that stood up to you, the queen of monsters, will be out of his big sister…” Toriel looked conflicted about something as she fought an inner fight. When she looked at the shaking shoulders of the small child she finally sighed and let her own sink a bit.

“I will help your sister, child. No one small should be left alone in this world without the one they love”

* * *

Sans stood beside the bed while he held Alex’ hand. He watched the queen as she did her best in a try to heal the gaping wound. A faint green glow came from her hands and Sans could see how muscles, tendons and nerves reconnected with each other. When that was done she focused on closing the skin – and Sans saw how it stretched as it formed a scar. It was done. Toriel took her hands off of the woman lying on the bed. She hadn’t moved at all but a faint coat of glistering sweat was covering her face. It had taken a toll on her but she was at least healed – all she had to do now was to wake up.

“It is done – but the wound is at risk to reopen again. It is infused with some kind of magic and when I do not know where it comes from I cannot treat it properly” She said and sighed. The female monster put a hand on the other woman’s forehead to feel if she had a fever. “You know Sans, that she is slowly falling down right?” Sans knew that, that was why she hadn’t woken up yet but he didn’t want to say anything to the kid what the term meant. He let a tremble go through his skeletal body.

“Yeah Tori, I know” Sans turned his pin pricks to the kid standing beside him. “Alex, I have to help your sister. She isn’t well. She is locked inside her own head and she needs help to break through that lock. Do you understand?” Alex nodded even though he maybe didn’t get the full picture. “We’ll be here the whole time, but you have to stay with Tori, no matter how long we will be in here, okay?” Alex nodded again and turned his small eyes towards the nervous monster – she felt guilty over that she almost made a child lose a family member. She put out a hand even though she didn’t expect the child to grab it. Alex shocked her by grabbing it and burry his head into her clothing for comfort. Toriel squeezed the small human’s hand.

“Come, little one. I will make you a cinnamon and butter scotch pie while we wait” she said with a soft and motherly voice. She picked him up and rocked him in her arms as she walked out the room and closed the door.

Sans turned to the lifeless body on the bed before he sat down on the edge so he could get a better look at her. He put a hand over where her soul were harboring. He could feel its magical pulse under her skin even though it was as faint as a breeze. He studied her face – quiet and serene. Her sockets closed and Sans would miss to see her green eye look at him with a hint of mischief when she had that in mind – but he would just be glad if she woke up at him and smile at him again. He let go of his magic in search of her soul. When he found it he felt how cracked and scarred it was. He pulled it out – making it hovering over her chest – to take a look at it. What he saw made him sick to the core – if a soul had a smell it would smell like a decomposing body. Her soul was still cracked, even worse than before – pieces missing from it. The threads that were holding the blood red soul together were black and almost looking like mold that slowly was taking over what was her. A soul was supposed to shine of the life that ran through its owner but Syl’s soul was slowly losing it – the blood red shine more dim and weak than he ever remembered. The oath of the Witches Collar was slowly killing her – she must have broken a rule that made her lose her life source. Sans had to quickly find the seal – find her – and save her.

He cupped his skeletal hands around the beaten soul and he felt sorrow inside of him. His own soul started to sing and call but Syl’s didn’t even respond. Sans let one of his phalanges run down the cracked surface and the soul shivered a bit at his touch.

“I’m coming, babe. Wait for me, okay?” he whispered to the soul and then he pushed it against his own chest – making his own soul mix with hers. When they touched he felt a cold shiver run through him before everything around him faded out before it became black.

* * *

“Hey, are you okay stranger? Do you need help?” Sans groaned a bit when he heard the child’s voice. Before he opened his sockets he felt how the sun caressed his bones, birds singing, the smell of grass and the breeze ruffling the leaves in the trees that must be above him. When he did open his sockets he focused his pinpricks on the small figure kneeling beside him. She had purple hair that reached down her shoulders – her only visible eye showed a green pupil while the skeleton socket had a red pinprick in it. It was then he noticed the bone structure in her face – a jaw, a cheek bone and the bone around the socket. A bit of the eternal skeleton grin was plastered on her face too. Her face were round and more childlike than before. She had both of her hands in her lap and Sans saw how her right arm was completely made out of bone. This was Syl as a child – it must be. Sans rose a bit and saw that they were in a clearing. Mt Ebott’s peak rose to the sky in the distance. Everything was different from what he was used to. This must be a memory he had entered.

“Where am I?” he asked a bit confused and met the child’s gaze. Sans could see a faint blush covering her face before she turned it down embarrassed.

“Valley of Ebott. What happened to you? Why are you here? When I came into the clearing you were just lying on the ground. Snoring” Sans smirked a bit when he looked at the shy child that was his Syl.

“I just passed out. I was exhausted and needed a nap. Glad you didn’t just _leaf_ me here” he said and picked up one of the leaves on the ground – showing it to her. The child giggled at his pun – the Syl he knew from his tine always scolded him if he ever used a pun – if she was in a better mood she could maybe smirk a tiny bit.

“Hey kid, what’s your name?” All he wanted was to confirm – to be sure that it really was her.

“Araphel, and you?” It was Syl. She had used that name as a collector at the nightclubs before and it must’ve been the name she had before she became Sylfaen – before she became Gaster’s lover. Suddenly she gave him a small leather pouch and as he grabbed it in his hands he could feel that it was filled with something – water maybe.

“Drink, you must gather your strength” She said with a low voice. Sans realized he didn’t answered her question.

“I’m Sans the Skeleton. Nice to meet ya’ kid” he said and took a sip from the leather container. He felt cooling sensation of water.

“You are a skeleton monster too! I knew it! Just like my father!” Syl said and her face shone up. Sans laughed at her enthusiasm.

“Yeah, so it seems. Say why are you here all alone? Shouldn’t you have one of your parents with you?” The child’s face became sad and her shoulder shrunk a bit as she started to pick with the hem of her grey dress.

“Mother and father fighting again over me… I don’t like it when they fight, so I went out alone to pick some flowers to make them both happy again…” She said and Sans saw how tears gathered in her eye and her socket.

“What about your friends? Couldn’t they come with you?” She was quiet for a second before she answered as her face became red.

“I do not have any friends… everyone is afraid of me. It is only me… I do not even have sibling to play with…” At that Sans realized how lonely Syl must have been while growing up – and it wouldn’t be any easier for as her father would be murdered by humans. Even though she had a family she would still be looked at as a monster and by monsters she wouldn’t be quite like them either. She didn’t have anywhere she belonged.

“When I grow up I want to have a big family that loves me for who I am. I want to feel loved and love back. I want someone to love deeply – as deeply as my mother loves father. But everyone says that no one will love me… I am a freak…” tears started to run down her cheek and Sans felt how his soul was pained at her words. All he wanted was to embrace her and say that he was there but he couldn’t – not now. Instead he put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

“Cheer up kid, when you grow up you will have a huge family that will love you and care for you. There will be others that will love you as deeply as you want – plenty of them.” The child looked at him with a surprised expression on her face.

“Do you think so?” Sans nodded.

“I know it will be so” If she only knew how much he loved her right now and how much of an impact she had made on his life. Life. Before she entered their closed little circle he never had a thought on starting a new life in the new world – but with Syl, everything changed. He wanted his own life with her included. He had thought that he would have that – until Derek and Chartom had ripped that dream into shreds.

“It will though at times and a few will be stubborn to realize what they feel – but I promise that you will have a family. Just never lose hope and never let go of it” he said. Syl smiled at him.

“Thank you Sans. I hope I will find someone like you some day!” Sans had to turned away when she said that as a blue blush crept up his skull. If she just knew. The child kept talking.

“I hope you will find whatever you are searching for. I know you will find it!” Syl rose from her place at the ground and brushed away some dirt from her dress. Then she looked at him with a gaze that made him tremble – as if she knew who he was.

“Keep searching – travel and find what you are after” she said with a mature voice. With that, the memory of Syl turned around and ran out of the clearing – leaving Sans alone as the scene faded out.

* * *

The previous scene was replaced of that of a field with flowers right at the foot of MT Ebott. It was early spring and Sans could smell all the flowers. In the sky a few clouds were drifting like balls of cotton on water as a small breeze pushed those forward on the surface. The shorter skeleton knew by now that he was traveling through Syl’s memories and this was what she remembered.

“What brings you to these lands, stranger? Are you lost?” That voice he remembered. It was soothing and mild – like a warm breeze a summer’s night. Sans turned around and was stunned when he saw Syl with a dark grey purple dress. Her hair was longer by now and it was hanging freely down to her hip. It was curly at the tips and he wondered why it wasn’t like that now. Her body was that of a grown woman and her lips were red and her lips were hypnotizing as full as they were. She had a bunch of flowers and plants in her arms. This must be when after she had been saved by his father and right before the war. The time when she was the Skeleton Witch.

Sans put a hand behind his skull as he scratched it.

“Nah, I’m looking for something” he said. Syl looked at him and lifted her eyebrow as she focused on him with her eye and pinprick.

“I have never seen you before – and then I know every living monster located at Ebott. Tell me – are you one of the Kings henchmen?” She asked. Sans laughed a bit – he was the Judge after all.

“You could say that” She relaxed a bit and gave him a smile.

“Then tell me stranger, whom are you looking for? In these lands it is only I and my husband to be that resides” Sans looked at her. This were when she was together with his father and he felt how jealousy rose inside of him even though that he knew it was a memory.

“I’m looking for a woman – someone I care much about” he said and looked at Syl.

“A lover maybe?”

“You could say that…” She swiped her dress away so she could sit down. When she was sitting she patted on the ground in front of her.

“Sit down friend and tell me, maybe the Skeleton Witch can help” she said and smiled at him. Sans did as she told him. She was so beautiful – all he wanted was to touch her and look at her.

“So tell me what is wrong” Sans sighed.

“This woman I’m looking for is slowly falling down and I don’t know how I can save her – I don’t even know where she is” he stated. Syl watched him as he told her about the woman. Before she spoke she had to think.

“To sense a fallen monster, the will to save them – just that shows how strong your bond for each other is. The love must be strong for you to have a chance to save her – and her love for you as well, or else you fight for nothing.” Sans listen to her words and thought them over. What she told him was true – if they weren’t she would never had a chance to save him when he had fallen down seven years ago.

“But how do I find her?” Sylfaen smiled a gentle smile and laid her skeletal hand over her heart.

“Find the source – the root where it all began – where she started to fall” Sans looked at her. That was why she had found him so quickly when she had saved him. She loved him deeply already at that time and he loved her too.

“Find the source…” She nodded.

“If you find the source, I promise you’ll find her too. Do you know where it all began?” Sans swallowed before he answered her question.

“At MT Ebott. When we became sealed away – when the ones she thought she could trust betrayed her…” When he uttered the words the scene became blurry and everything became twisted. Colors were mixing together, lines were erased and nothing was solid. Things became darker and soon figures started to get substance and get more of an outline. The colors returned but everything was darker and the atmosphere became heavy. This was Syl’s memory – one of her darkest. Sans was standing in the masses of monster yelling at someone in chains. A younger version of Asgore were standing there and he had a more stern and hard look on his face. In his hands were the red trident made out of magic. Standing beside him was Gaster and Grillby. Gaster had a pained look on his face.

Sans stepped forward, out of the massed and now saw who it was that was being chained. In a throne made of stone were Syl sitting with the black chains around her. Her eyes were ravaged and filled with hate and anger. She had been betrayed by the ones she trusted.

“I curse you, king. From the deepest pit of your fear, I summon thee strength of the curse. Your children will be twisted, corrupted and then killed by humans when that day come. Your love for them will break you and your family apart! With this I curse you!” Sans could feel the magic inside the words and the magic in her voice making them stronger. When the curse ended he could feel how the everyone became quiet.

Syl now turned to Gaster; his pleading eyes met hers but all he could see was hatred and cold from them. She wasn’t going to spare him.

“Flower – “he tried to sign to her in a try to sooth her but it was in vein.

“I curse you… From the inner of my soul, I summon thee strength of the curse. May you suffer from your own betrayal. May your children pay for it, may they suffer from their own memory, may they suffer from your choices! May YOU be swallowed by your own knowledge!” Sylfaen steady met his eyes as the curse grew stronger. Gaster’s face with filled with sorrow as he signed to her, but nothing could save him now.

“I will love you forever. Forgive me…”

“With this I curse you!”

At that everything became black. Pitch black. Not even light were there. Sans quickly turned around. There, behind him were a throne – and in it he could see a woman with long blood red hair. She was partly skeleton and partly human – sitting there looking down into her lap. The black chains were covering her and made so she couldn’t move at all. Sans took a trembling step towards her.

“Syl, babe…can you hear me?” A rustling from the chains.

“Year, after year. I sang, I cursed. I wished. No one came” Her voice echoed through the darkness.

“Syl, I came. I’ve come for ya’, babe” she didn’t hear.

“I was left alone. Hated. Unloved. Why? Why don’t anyone love me?” Sans arrived at the throne and he quickly took her hand.

“Syl, babe, that’s not true! You were loved! Gaster loved ya’! I love you!” She turned her gaze up to him but she saw right through him.

“I killed him, hurt them, made them hate me.” Sans put a hand on her face and his thumb caressed her cheek.

“Syl, that wasn’t your fault – you told me. Remember?” Tears gathered in her eyes.

“I… I broke the bond. I broke the bond with the only one I loved…” the tears began to run down her cheeks.

“I’ve broken the oath… I’m going to die… what will happen to Alex? What will happen to my little brother?” Sans couldn’t bear with it anymore. His hand hit her cheek and the sound of the impact echoed through the darkness. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her to him.

“I will not let you die! I promised you that I would find a way. I won’t accept this otherwise! You belong to me – with me!” He felt his own tears run down his bones. “Why won’t you hear me? Why don’t you understand? Why do you have to bear everything on your shoulders alone? Let me bear the burden with you!”

“Sans?” A sudden relief swept through him when he heard her voice talking to him. She was there with him. “I’m sorry Sans… This was never supposed to happen…” She cried. Sans pushed her away from him and grabbed her face and looked into her sockets.

“It will be okay babe, I will fix this – we’ll fix this” Syl shook her head.

“No… I will die here… I’ve broken my promise to the oath… to Derek. He have called and I haven’t returned to him. I’ve put Alex in danger…”

“Syl, please…” Sans own tears started to run.

“Look at these chains – they are the oath… they’re killing me….” Sans looked at the chains. The same color as the threads that was holding her soul together. Sans felt his magic rise inside of him.

“I refuse to accept that! I REFUSE!” He gripped the chains with his magic and started to pull. They didn’t budge but Sans refused to give in.

“Sans… please, this will kill you too if you don’t stop. You must take care of Alex for me…” Sans turned to her with anger in his eyes.

“YOU are NOT dying here! Do you hear me?” He felt the power in him rise again. The magic pulse inside him. Syl widened her sockets in surprise when she felt the level of magic. Sans figure started to glow with the cyan blue color that was his magic as it started to pulse from him. He grabbed the chains with his bare hand.

“YOU ARE NOT DYING TODAY!” He pulled. The chains rattled and then…

They broke. The cyan blue magic colored the darkness, filling the empty space. The black chains fell to the ground and disappeared from the view. Sans looked at the woman sitting on the throne made out of stone. Slowly a blood red color covered her as she lifted her hands up before her. Slowly her magic mixed with his and colored everything purple around them. Slowly a feeling of awe filled him that wasn’t his and he could almost cry – the soulmate bond had never been severed as they had thought. It had just been dormant – resting. Slowly she stretched out a leg and put down her foot on what was solid ground. When she did that a light flashed before them and Sans had to close his sockets but only for a moment. When he opened them she was standing there with what he remembered about her – her hair in the same purple color like a ripe plum and the Witches Collar gone from her throat – instead was the aquamarine pendant glowing stronger than ever. Inside Sans he could feel her emotions run wild – joy, awe, wonder, surprise but most important than ever – her love. The warmth of her love for him and everyone else that she thought of as her family. She looked up at him – her red pinpricks became blurry as her sockets filled with tears.

“Sans…” The skeleton quickly grabbed her by her arms and pulled her to him. Finally he could feel her magic. Feel her body against him. His soul had craved this, longed for this and he drank it like it was the elixir of life. She wrapped her arms around him, grabbing the back of his jacket. She cried. She was safe. She was free.

“I’m free… I’m finally free…” Sans pressed his face into the crock of her neck as the purple light around them emitted a warm light – wrapping around them like a blanket.

“Yeah… you’re free” he closed his sockets. He could feel how the outside started to call to them but he didn’t want to leave just yet, but they had too.

“I don’t want to leave…” She whispered into where his ear should have been. Sans hummed at that.

“Neither do I, babe, but we have to. Everyone is waiting for us, for you” She pushed him away from her and looked into his sockets.

“Will you be there?” He nodded.

“I will be there when you wake up” he pressed her to him tighter – just like when they teleported, uttering the promise they’ve made a long time ago.

“Whatever happens – don’t let go” Syl closed her socket, let her head rest against his chest while she grabbed his skeletal hand with her own.

“I won’t” Sans smirked at that and closed his eyes. He could feel how the reality was calling and he let go of the grip he had on her soul and let it guide them back.

Whatever happened on the way…

He never let go.


	9. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the very late update. I've been busy moving in with my boyfriends these couple of weeks and there has been much at work so I've been totally worked out. Here's chapter nine so I hope you'll enjoy!  
> Warnig for gore in this chapter.
> 
> Stay awsome!  
> PurpleNightSong

The warmth surrounded me as I let out a content moan. It smelled a bit weird but it wasn’t unpleasant at all – it was more familiar and reminded me of something a long time ago. My sockets were shut and I didn’t want to open them – it felt safe in the pleasant darkness. Here, no one could reach me.

I heard something shift beside me and a weight being pushed down right beside me. At that movement I flinched as a sudden pain from my side sent waves through me – but still I didn’t want to open my sockets, afraid over what I would meet on the other side.

A soft but firm touch was placed on my cheek as if the owner of the hand tried to get a response – but I didn’t want to open them. Afraid of what would meet me on the other side.

“Syl?” a deep voice said and I felt my soul erupt – feelings that wasn’t my own ran through me: fear, worry and hope. These feelings were so familiar but still so foreign to me. A long time ago I had felt these feelings inside of me and I had hoped that I never would have to lose them – but I had and now they were back. Why were they back?

“Babe, please… open your eyes. I know you’re awake” the deep voice said. Slowly I let my sockets open up to the outside world – prepared to the see the cave I had been locked into or be in the bed in my apartment. The dim light was almost too bright and the odd coloring in the room was hard on the eye. I blinked a few times before I noticed something cyan blue to my right. With a soft turn on my head I met two white pinpricks and a shit eating grin plastered on a round skull. This person I knew. His expression were that of a person that were happy and his emotion were overwhelming. Soulmate. This was my soulmate.

He stroke his thumb made of bone over my cheek as he looked into my red pinpricks. Sans. This was Sans.

“Good morning, sleepyhead…” he whispered. I smirked at him when he said that.

“Look who’s talking” I said with a hoarse voice. It hurt – everything hurt and ached. My facial expression must have showed him that something wasn’t right as I felt his worried emotions inside.

“Are you okay? Something wrong?” he asked and studied me.

“Everything hurts and aches. What happened to me?” I asked him and tried to rise from the bed. Sans helped with laying some pillows behind my back so I could lean against them.

“Well, when you arrived with Frisk you were bleeding – much. You fell and didn’t want to wake up – probably because of the blood loss. After that – you started to fall down…” he whispered at the end. I looked at him and then memories returned. The monster hunters, Frisk, blood, Sans in my old memories – Sans freeing me.

My hand flew up to my neck and I still could feel the leather necklace around it but it wasn’t active anymore – the magic was gone. The spell was broken. I tried to get it off but my fingers didn’t had the strength to get it off.

“Let me help ya’” Sans said while his own hands got a hold of the knot behind my hair. When he tied it up he took it off and laid it down in my lap for me to study it. The silver pendant was burnet and black – cracked. I took a deep shivering breath in a try to hold my tears inside of me. It was over – it was finally over. Derek had no control over me anymore and I promised myself that I would show him that. Sans must have felt the sudden change of emotions inside of me as put his skeletal hands over mine that I had tied into fists.

“Babe, let it go. It’s over. You don’t have to do anything about him. You’re your own person again” he said. I felt tears run down my cheek as I thought it over.

“He kept me away from you, Sans. I can’t just let it slip” I said as my voice trembled

Then I noticed the color of my hair – it was purple again. The red coloration was gone. This was the ultimate prof that I now was free from the spell. Sans took a strand of it between his fingers and rolled it before he pressed it up to where his nose would have been.

“I like your hair better this way” he said and the way he said it sent a shiver down my spine. I felt warmth creep up my face when he said that and I cursed myself inside. Suddenly a hard knock on the door snapped both of us out of our bubble. The door opened and Sans held my hand as I felt sweat appearing on my face. When the door was open I felt my heart ache. There was my little brother and he looked tired but happy. His face lit up when he saw that I was awake. He ran to me and jumped into my arms. I held him close to me – how could I’ve almost thrown this away? I felt my shirt becoming wet and I knew he was crying. I hushed him as his tears and breathing became faster and harder. He was letting his feelings go. Sans observed the doorway and my socket sought whatever he looked at. I felt how the numbness got a hold on me – there was the one I once had held just like this and protected just as fiercely as Alex.

They looked battered but at least they were okay. I swallowed but Frisk just smiled at me with their friendly eyes. I could feel their soul filled with emotions but they weren’t afraid – they were relieved. They raised their hands and signed to me.

“We’ll talk later” and then they turned around and walked out the door. Yes we would talk later – and I had to meet the wrath of the King and Queen of monsters. I had to meet the royal scientist and the captain – Sans brother too. Suddenly the burden felt overwhelming and just for a second I let the thought of teleporting away fly past me. Sans must have felt my sudden change in emotions as he squeezed his hand around mine.

“I’m here. I’ll always be here. I’m never letting go” he said as he searched for my pinpricks. I nodded and kept my brother close to me. I hoped that everything would be okay.

* * *

I closed the door to Sans’ bedroom where my brother had fallen asleep. Sans had left it a few minutes ago to give me some space and to prepare everyone – I knew that I had to face them all now. I swallowed and felt the aching pain from my side where the monster hunter’s blade had cut into me. Sans had told me that Toriel couldn’t heal it completely because she didn’t know which kind of magic that had taken resident in the wound – and I hadn’t told him that I had met with hunters from a long forgotten time.

I took a trembling breath and walked towards the light open space that was their living room. I could feel the warm atmosphere emitting from there and hear their voices. Undyne’s more powerful tone and the stuttering of Alphys voice. Papyrus’ high pitched speech and Asgore’s bas the made the surrounding rumble. Frisk’s light that was their voice and that sweet mothering tenor that was Toriel. I could imagine Sans sitting in the couch just watching everyone. I felt my heart speed up and as I took the first step into the room everything became quiet. I looked around and met everyone’s eyes and they terrified me. Hate, anger, misbelief and disappointment. But among all those pair of eyes I met a different kind – encouragement and love. Frisk and Sans. I locked my sockets to Sans and he could feel how insecure I was. He smirked at me and sent feelings to me that made me feel that he was with me whatever happened. I tried a faint smile at them.

“Hi… nice to see you all…” I said weakly and I cursed myself – I had never been this afraid before. Undyne rose from her seat beside Alphys and walked towards me. Her hand across my face came as no surprise and the sound echoed through the apartment. My head spun to the right and my hair covered my face – the psychological pain were greater than the physical one. Rejection. Hate.

Sans’ feeling of surprise didn’t help much either. The tears gathered into my sockets and I tried to hold them back.

“Traitor! How dare you show your ugly mug here after what you did, huh?”

“UNDYNE?!” Alphys sounded shocked by her girlfriend’s – no wife, I had felt the ring – action.

“I… I’m sorry…” I said weakly. Undyne trembled with wrath as I could feel her magic rise.

“You betrayed us! US! Your family! Friends! SANS! Do you know how much pain the freaking bag of old bones was in? After what you did? Frisk didn’t dare to go to school after what you did! We thought you wanted us dead! I would leave if I had been you!” Every word hurt like a knife in the soul. This was what I wanted from the start – them hating me, to protect them. I couldn’t say a word. The tears started to run down my cheek.

“I… I understand. Just… let my little brother rest, okay – and then we’ll be going our own way” I said – not hiding my emotions very well. I was surprised when I felt two hard muscular arms wrap around me and hugging the air out of my lungs. One of Undyne’s hand was laid upon my head as she pressed it down to her chest.

“So I won’t accept you leaving us a second time, punk. You idiot!” she whispered. The wall that held everything back fell apart. I wrapped my arms around Undyne’s hard and firm body as I howled into her chest. I cried so I couldn’t get any air. I felt more arms wrap themselves around me and I could feel everyone there. Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, Alphys, Frisk and Toriel. This was my family – and they would be there for me. I had never been alone. They slowly stepped away and gave me soft smiles and Sans held my hand.

“Please, sit down my friend, and tell us everything that happened to you. ” Asgore said and put one of his huge hands on my shoulder. “You have much to explain and we have much to discuss” I nodded and took a seat in the couch and tried to remember everything. I wanted to tell them everything. I clutched my hands into fists and I tried to breath. Everyone found a place to sit. I took a shaking breath.

“It… it all began the same night Gaster had found a way to recreate the Core. He called me to the office so I could help with the translation. When the meeting was done I ran into Mrs. Andersson and she order me to go see her husband. I didn’t recognize her, I didn’t see through her disguise. We started to walk down a long corridor – into the section where they experimented with magic. I was lured into a dark room with a magical barrier. When I felt it – it was too late… I was trapped and couldn’t use magic. Derek stated what he wanted – my magic, my ability to bend time…” A few drew a deep breath. Toriel looked to Asgore.

“Did you know about this?” she asked and the king nodded.

“Yes, I did. She used during the war a long time ago to make us monsters win the fight – I don’t remember it – but she did it” Asgore said and sighed. Toriel looked shocked and focused her eyes on me. Sans threw a secretive glance at Frisk.

“Sylfaen, if you could bend time why didn’t you just wait until they took down the barrier?” She asked me.

“I couldn’t use magic – the shield prevented me from using it, and they wasn’t going to make it possible for me to use after the shield was down, they had forced me to drink a brew that made my magic dormant. They had Frisk…” I told them. Toriel widened her eyes more.

“But Frisk told us that it was you that had kidnapped them – in an attempt to get a hold of their soul and magic…” I violently shook my head and looked to Frisk.

“That was not what happened – I did something a witch and magician should never do. I altered their memories. They threatened to make it difficult for all off you – they knew about things that you had done that would put you all in trouble. I… I swore an oath that would make them masters over me – an oath that would kill me if I didn’t do as I was told. The Witches Collar. An old tool that the king used to control his magicians…” I turned to Frisk. Everything was so complicated to explain. “I’m sorry Frisk for what I did – memories is one of the most sacred things we carry with us and those I touched and changed… I can make it undone – give bake your true memories of that night… but only if you want me to” I said and looked at them. I was afraid that they didn’t want me to do that but all they did was smile and came over to me so I could reach them. Everyone sat quiet and watched as I released my hands from my knees and put them on the teenagers head. I touched their hair and let the magic loose, searching for the remains – I could feel it somewhere in there. A thread of red magic, a thread that made a weave to cover up the true memories. I touched the weave and felt it crumble – threads snapping and being torn apart. The memories emerged up from their grave and flooded Frisk’s mind. I quickly pulled away and looked at Frisk when I heard their deep inhale. They just stared straight forward with the look of horror on their face. Tears started to stream down their cheek before they turned to me.

“You – you did it to save me, to save us…” They said “You did it because of your love for all of us – for uncle Sans…” Sans snapped his head up to me when he heard that and all I could feel was sadness and awe. If he only knew how much it had hurt me to cut the bond.

“It wasn’t you… it was _HER!”_

“Frisk, dear, who is _her?”_ Toriel asked and looked at the child.

“Mrs. Andersson. It was she who kidnapped me…” Toriel widened her eyes again.

“I can not believe it… Mrs. Andersson… she has helped the women in the monster society plenty of times and talked about women’s rights…” She looked to me. “How can she have done that? Without magic it was impossible to get in –“

“That’s because she used magic” I said. It became quite at that

“But how? Is she the one that forced you into the oath?” I nodded.

“She is a skilled magician and she is capable of lies”

“But how could she know about your ability to bend time when we didn’t even know about it? To know about it she must’ve been there over two thousand years ago” Undyne said as she held Alphys hand. I drew my breath. Sans just glanced at me, there were four – now three amongst them that knew about my ability – Sans, Frisk, Asgore and the now dead Dr. W.D Gaster.

“Because she was there when I bent the time during the war thousands of years ago…”

“B-but that’s impossible! F –for a magician to l-live that long they must k-keep their magic and n-not transfer it t-to their offspring. I-I’ve read the codex the magicians s-stated a long t-time ago and it s-says that it’s a-against nature for an m-magician to stay a-alive for ever” Alphys interrupted and her face was flushed over the possibility of a magician breaking the sacred codex. I looked at them.

“She didn’t die because she didn’t transfer her magic to her child – she couldn’t transfer it anyway…” I said and I closed my sockets – remembering the time when my mother and the others had put up the barrier, sealing the only way to freedom from MT Ebott. Her evil stare through the magical barrier as the monsters chained me with Gaster’s creation. Alphys studied me and behind her glasses she was analyzing.

“AND WHY COULDN’T SHE TRANSFER HER POWERS?” Papyrus asked. I bit my lip for what I was about to tell them.

“Because, she sealed her child away together with the monsters back then” I said and I saw how it took them a few couple of seconds before they realized.

“You mean that…”

“She is my mother… and Alex is my half-brother” they just stared at me. Asgore looked around and he didn’t seemed shocked so I guessed that Sans had told him at some point.

“But wait a second, if they made you swear an oath that made you do whatever they wanted – why didn’t they just get rid of us? Weren’t they afraid that we would come and find you?” Undyne asked and I looked at her.

“Better to make this clear: they made me swear the oath or else they would kill Frisk – to swear the oath, the master must commit to the oath too. I made the request that he wouldn’t hurt or lay a finger on you guys. He accepted”

“Then why did you fight us back then?” Toriel asked me. I swallowed.

“The oath is susceptible for loopholes – so he made me destroy you instead so you wouldn’t come after me – he wanted _me_ to kill you. The meaning of ‘to be destroyed’ can have many meanings and I tried to find so many loopholes as I could. I couldn’t see you or contact you – even if I wanted. But one rule stood over every order he made – the protection of Alex and the family. But if any of us broke the oath we would die.”

“T-then why didn’t you die now?” Alphys asked. Sans grabbed my hand and squeezed it in his own.

“Because the orders that Derek must’ve made didn’t come through – I guess it’s because of the monster hunter’s weapon – so it couldn’t kill me instantly but instead it killed me slowly, draining my life energy away.  That made it possible for Sans to come and rescue me” I ended. I felt exhausted. I knew that there was more they wanted to know and I hoped I would be able to tell them everything.

“You were attacked by monster hunters?!” Undyne said and glanced to Asgore whose fuzzy eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

“That is a question for another time but there is one I have to ask though: why did you kill Gaster?” Asgore asked. I felt the crushing guilt on my shoulders and I laid my head in my hands as the tears started to fall. My teacher, former lover, my friend and the father of my one true love.

“I had the intention to kill Gaster – or rather my initial plan was to kill… Sans and Papyrus, and later bending the time back. Gaster stepped in the way, as I knew he would – taking the blow… I couldn’t t-turn the t-time b-b-back… He – he must’ve f-felt it and he sacrificed himself” at that I broke down. I couldn’t talk anymore and I felt a pair of arms around me as they pressed me to a chest. Someone hushing in a try to sooth me. The awkward silence became depressed but I knew that they believed me. This was the truth and I had showed them. Every wave of sadness sent new tears down my cheeks. There was only one question left. Frisk was the one to ask it.

“Why is there more bone showing now then before?” I tried to collect my breath – but Sans was the one explaining. He already knew the truth since seven years back.

“The time-magic she uses must take its fuel from somewhere – in this case from her physical body and that’s why…” They knew, they all knew now that I had turned back the time so many times so it had made my body different. Suddenly it became too hard to breathe as it felt like the walls was closing in on me.

“A-air, I n-ne-need air” I stuttered.

“I think this is enough for now Tori… she’s exhausted and need to rest –“ I quickly rose from the couch and from Sans embrace. I stumbled to the closed door that must lead to the balcony I’d seen Sans standing on a few days ago.

My emotions were like a hurricane inside of me as I tried to open it – my hands shaking and the fingers didn’t want to listen to the signals my brain sent to them. My lungs didn’t want to take in the air surrounding me – instead it felt like water was entering them.

My hands finally got a grip of the handle and I pushed it down – making it open up in front of me. When I came out the fresh air cleansed my lungs and made them widen like balloons in my chest. I took a grip of the railing and bent my upper body over it and emptied my stomach from its content – sending pain from the wound at my side through the rest of my body. A hand with a hard surface started to rub my back in slow motions up and down.

“Breath. Deep breaths, babe. Let it all out” The low rumble of Sans voice resonated through me as my breathing tried to find the same pace as my beating heart. The death of Gaster had finally caught up to me. The image of him turning to dust in front of me and Sans – the one that had saved me a long time ago.

The hand made out of ivory colored bone rubbed harder as Sans hushed in a try to reach me. He could feel my anxiety and sadness – my remorse and self-hatred for what I had done. I could feel his emotions too – even though they were far away in a distant horizon of my mind. They moved in like waves against the shore – slowly but determined. The warmth of the emotion wrapped me in like a blanket – made me remember a time long ago where we sat in a couch with a book in the light from the fire place. The image that I loved flashed before me – Sans reading, moving his fingers over the pages filled with words telling a story of another time or reality. These memories slowly calmed me down.

“I remember those times too” he whispered right beside my ear and his teeth grazed my templet as his hand still moved the same pattern it had been since he came out. “All too often”.

My tears had slowed down and the cramp in my stomach had stopped – but my body was still twitching and trembling with the aftermath of the anxiety attack.

Above us the moon was moving slowly over the sky like a firefly chasing the lights that were the stars in the distance – following its endless cycle of never reaching it, only to start anew again later. The cold air reminded me that I was still here and that all that had happened had happened seven years ago.

Sans turned me around so I had to look at him. His sockets were half lidded and he had a solemn face as the moon painted his white skull a lighter shade of blue. He brushed away the remaining tears with the bones that would have been his thumb.

“But you’re here now, babe and that’s all that matters right now” he whispered. I leaned into his touch and I smiled a bit. Sans was right – I was there, I was together with him again and I had explained everything to everyone.

_But there is something left…_

“Sans?”

“Yeah babe?”

“There is something left for me to do before I can be completely at ease – but I promise I will never let go again…” He gave me a worried glance before he nodded and hugged me close to him. He trusted me and he knew I would keep it this time.

“Whatever it is, I believe ya’, but if you ever find that you’re in trouble – call, okay?” he whispered. I nodded and moved my head up against him before I closed my eyes and let my lips graze his teeth.

There in the moonlight – I was finally whole again.

* * *

The panic ravage through his body when he threw the phone onto the desk. The police hadn’t found anything – not even heard a thing. Alexander was gone and the bond between him and that damn half breed was severed. The only way for it to vanish was if any of them had broken the oath – and he was still alive. He had called and ordered but there was no response. What the hell had happened to her? Where was Alexander? Derek poured up a glass of whiskey into his glass from an already half empty bottle. Two days had passed – two days and still no sign of any of them. Rick hadn’t heard anything either after Sylfaen had left him trembling on the floor in the corridor of their apartment complex. He swirled around in his chair with the glass in his hand and he viewed the outside city. Where was Alex? Was he even alive? He must be, his big sister wouldn’t let anyone hurt him with them taking her life. A lightning storm moved in over the night sky – sending its bolts over the sky, creating branches stretching over them before the rumbling sound dashed down on them.

Suddenly everything became black around him and outside – the power was cut. He sighed in annoyance waiting for the reserve generator to kick in. he waited. And waited. And waited.

An eerie laughter ripped through the silence around him and he quickly turned around – his eyes searching into the darkness but he couldn’t see anything as it suddenly became ice cold. Then he heard someone clap their hands in the dark room – slowly so it began to echo. He felt cold creep up on him before he saw some movement in the dark – two blood red pinprick shining. For the first time Derek felt fear in his life. A sudden flash of lightning crossed the skies making it light up the surroundings.

Derek widened his eyes.

There in the middle of the large office Sylfaen was standing with a bloodthirsty look on her face. Her jacket were ripped to shreds and her hair the color of plums once again. The Witches Collar gone – instead there was only a light blue pendent shining from her chest. She was bloody all over. Her hands still slowly clapping.

“Two thousand years I was imprisoned – only hearing the sound of water dripping from the cave ceiling – just like this. Then I was released by a ghost, telling me that I would get my happy ending – not even a year was I free until next time I was imprisoned, hearing only the sound of dripping water…” She took a steady step towards him and Derek pushed away in utter fear.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!” he screamed. The being just laughed at his feeble attempt to get away.

“I was ordered to destroy the very core that was me – my family. One by one they fell for my magic – even one dying by my hand” Another step. “I was forced to rip my life asunder as I watched the people I loved fall apart. For seven years I was order around – to be used for my ability”

“G-GET AWAY FROM ME! I ORDER YOU TO STOP THIS RIGHT NOW AND FETCH ALEX!” Sylfaen raised her hand and looked down on it like she hadn’t heard his command.

“But that is all over now… I will never be anyone’s slave again” she stretched out her hand. Her left eye began to emit red flames – making them lick her skull and face. A red tinted mist covered Derek.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Derek screamed in sheer panic. Sylfaen slowly closed her hand and Derek felt a tremendous pressure making it hard to breath.

“Do you know how it feels to remember your own death?” Derek stared at her when he heard her utter those words. Sweat broke through his skin and his eyes almost stood out of his head. She just smiled – a skeleton grin that made him think of the messenger of death. “You will soon”

He felt something pull his arm – first the bone in his shoulder was dislocated then the piercing pain of muscles, nerves and tendons snapping like strings of a weave that was ripped asunder. He screamed out his pain before the arm was separated from his physical body.

Sylfaen just laughed as she began to pull a leg.

* * *

I viewed the mauled body lying in front of me limbs torn apart from the torso – only the head remained. Blood covered the carpet and pools of the red liquid became bigger by the second. The sour smell of excrement reached my nose but I didn’t flinch – I had done this before. Slowly I reached for the weave of time and pulled a string at the time – making everything undone till the very moment before I had ripped this rotten man’s limb from his body one by one. My surroundings became blurry and I watched Derek’s face stare at me in fear again. He remembered everything – the pain, the smell and the blood. He remembered everything. He tried to catch his breath but it was as if his lungs didn’t want to listen to him. I laughed at him. I released my grip and he fell down to his knees – panting for air.

“P-please… mercy”

“Mercy? Was it mercy you showed me seven years ago? Was it mercy that made you rip me from my family? No, Derek you deserve no mercy” I said and took a grip of his rotten core – his soul and tossed him into a wall. I could hear bone crack and as always it made tremble, waking up my bloodlust. I licked my lips as I watched the pained man crawl on the floor – vomiting whatever he had eaten earlier today.

“P-please… I’m sorry” he sobbed. He looked so pathetic in his state. He wasn’t much more than a child.

“No, Derek. It’s too late for forgiveness” I said and snapped my fingers. Bones pierced the ground and penetrated his body. A popping sound was heard, just like when you pop a balloon filled with air, when his lungs collapsed. Then a wheezing noise whenever he tried to take a breath. I let him die slowly this time – seeing his fear as the life ran out of him.

After he died, I turned the time back again. And again and again and again. Every time I let him die in a new way, and every time a piece of me vanishing – showing more and more bone.

“PLEASE! I WILL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! TAKE ALEX WITH YOU! PLEASE! JUST DON’T KILL ME AGAIN!” I snarled at him and raised my hand but I was stopped. Another skeleton hand was laid upon mine and I followed it to Sans face. His face was filled with anxiety and I could feel his worry inside of me.

“Syl, it’s enough. He got the point” I looked at him before I felt the exhaustion drizzle over me. Suddenly all my energy was gone and I had to lean into Sans for support. It was hard to breath and the wound at my side ached. Derek crawled away from me while he watched us with fear. Sans turned his head towards the man that had caused us so much pain.

“And you – be glad that I came at the right time. Now you know the real pain this ability causes. If I ever see near my girl again…” Sans sockets became completely black. “ **You gonna’ have a bad time** ” Derek covered his face with his arms and I looked at him.

“Remember Derek that I never want to see you or your wife near me ever again. If I do – I will turn back the time to this date and the next time. **You won’t come back.** ” I pressed my hand down into my pocket and picked up the broken necklace they had put around my neck seven years ago. I threw it at him before I sighed and leaned into Sans.

“Please, take me home” I whispered. Sans stroke a strand of hair out of my face before he kissed my forehead. His teeth grazing my skin and bone.

“As you wish, babe” he answered and I felt the familiar pull right under my navel as Sans teleported us away from the office.

Left was Derek starring at the broken piece of jewelry lying on the floor. The sound of the lightning masked his desperate screams and nothing was heard.

 


	10. Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over three weeks since I last updated this fic. Sorry for being absent but my work has taken lot of my energy and time. The times for writing has been few so that's why it has taken so long.   
> But here it is at least; chapter ten! 
> 
> Read!  
> Enjoy!  
> Love ya' all!   
> ~<3  
> PurpleNightSong

The flickering light from the torches caressed the walls made out of black stones as if they were lovers in the middle of a love act. Low mumblings could be heard in the room like a distant humming from an ancient past that had been long forgotten. People gathered for a reason.

The damp air was filled with the fragrance of mold and warmth – making the textures of the robes glue to the bodies they were suited on. A group of five people were standing in a crescent shape in front of a man with bandages around his ribcage in a try to keep the wound, after a knife on his back, closed. He had a black piece of fabric tied around his left arm in a sign that he was grieving after he lost someone close to him. His eyes were red after all the tears he had shed since the night his sister been mauled by the beast made of bone from another dimension. The lips were cracked after the repeated licking of his tongue and his breathing hard – the tears almost there again.

Behind him were several people standing – watching closely on what was happening in front of them. Waiting for the people in the shape of a crescent moon to take action.

One of the persons in the crescent formation stepped forward in an act that the meeting would begin and that they sought attention from the crowed. Instantly it became quiet and the only thing that could be heard was the collective breathing from everyone present – making it echo between the walls and into the dark where the light of the torch couldn’t reach.

“We have gathered here today to remember our dear sister that perished a few days ago. She was a skilled fighter and someone that showed a great potential to become one leading figure in the council one day – maybe not a magic user but as a warrior. She has left a huge empty space in all our hearts and she will be missed – but the one that grieves the most is our dear brother standing in front of you all. Not only were they brother and sister in soul but also by blood which is rare in these days among us. Let us hope that she will find peace in the afterlife and that her dear brother will find the strength to meet the beast and monster that took her life and revenge her” a light but still strong voice of the woman speaking reached into the very heart of every member present. The woman that had spoken took a step back and let another member of formation step forward.

“Please receive the deepest of condolences from the council, dear brother. You were brave to come back and tell us about what happened” this time a man and he walked to the other male – putting his hand on his shoulder. He fell down to his knees in an act of respect.

“Thank you brother – I will accept the condolences that the council has given me. I will honor my dear sister’s memory by finding the monster that killed her” he said and shivered by the presence of the one higher than him in rank. The man stepped back and waited as the next member stepped forward. With the voice of a song bird – the woman was listened to when she spoke.

“Fate is a cruel but fair ruler over humans. Since ancient times she has declared our fate – your fate! Our fate that was given was first to imprison the race that was lesser than us – that was a danger to the humans! Monsters! At the same time, we imprison a true monster – a being that shouldn’t exist! A mix between both human and monster with magic that offends the fate and this whole world’s existent. The magicians’ council thought this monster to be dead and that you – our brothers and sisters amongst the monster hunters – should not have to encounter this ‘ _thing’_ ever. But time and fate has changed that” whispers spread through the crowed like fire. The woman with the singing voice was quiet for a moment to let her words sink in before she spoke again.

“Our dear brother standing in front of us has met this monster and lost his sister to it too. The monster with the ability to bend time is still alive and it is still breathing!” anxious whispers were heard.

“Alive?”

“How can it still be alive?”

“Wasn’t it on the news a couple of years ago? The one that accompanied the monster scientist?”

“Who know how many times it has changed the flow of time?” The woman watched the crowed as they moved in a way that spoke of fear and hate. She reached out her hands to silence her listener.

“Brothers! Sisters! It is time to stop this beast to reign over time! THIS is what Fate has chosen us for! THIS is what Fate want us to do! THE SKELETON WITCH MUST DIE!” A collective howl was heard from the crowed when she said the last word. The song bird stepped back and let a fourth person step forward. The man was huge and even though he wore a robe – he emitted strength and power.

“First we must gather information; what are her strengths? Her weakness? All those questions are –“

“She have a younger brother… a red head filled with magic. We met him when we were out on our mission to destroy the monster ambassador” came a cold and dark voice. The man in the robe let his eyes search for the man that had lost his sister.

“What are you saying, dear brother? How come that the witch has a brother?” the dark man rose from the cold stone floor.

“I saw him. A young child – not older than seven years of age. He was filled with old magic and it wasn’t the witch’s magic either. It was someone else’s” The song bird took a step forward.

“That is impossible! For a child to have any magic in them they need to have a parent that is a magician! And there is only five magicians left in this world!”

“Do you call me a liar, great sister? I felt what I felt – the child has magic in him”

“You must have felt wrong! Blinded by your sister’s death!”

“SILENCE!” a strong but female voice was heard over the heads of the arguing members. Her voices echoed in the aftermath of the sudden surprise it had brought down on them. They all turned their heads to the last figure that had spoken. A small one with a staff in her hand that was covered with gems and gold.

“My dear Elder Sister, what have you to say?” The huge man asked.

“Two thousand years ago there was a war between monsters and humans. During this time a human king recruited people with special powers – magicians that could stand by his side. Seven of these magicians was needed to create a barrier to stop the monsters from escaping the Underground when they finally was trapped – sending the Skeleton Witch down with them. One magician for every human quality. Determination, Bravery, Justice, Integrity, Kindness, Perseverance and Patience. Seven great magician to rule over every other magic user after the war. The magicians stated rules after the war – so no one of them would live forever. But there was a problem; the Magician of Determination didn’t have someone to create a new life with so they left, determined to find someone but she was never heard of again. The Magician of Kindness, on the other hand, was a different story. She had lost someone close to her years in the past – before people and monster was fighting. She had loved a monster and married him without thinking. She was alone and had to pass her magic over to a child – but she couldn’t” the magician stated.

“Why couldn’t she pass her powers over? Did she not have a child?” asked a member of the crowed.

“She had a child, a girl – but she couldn’t pass her powers over to her because she had locked her in with the monsters. The Magician of Kindness was the birth giver of the Skeleton Witch” The crowed draw their breaths when they heard what their Elder Sister was saying.

“You mean that the Magician of Kindness is still alive? That she finally gave birth to a son that could take over her powers?”

“Yes. If a magician do not conceive a child and transfer their power over to the child – they will live until they do. The Magician of Kindness violated these rules – she never took a new mate but instead she has stayed alive until now. If what you are telling us is the truth, dear brother, then we must find this child and take it in among us. This child must fill one of the empty places inside the Magician’s Council. They need to be taught the ways of magic before the Magician of Kindness does anything – before the Skeleton Witch takes actions” The magician looked around as she stopped for a moment. The Magician of Patience smiled under her hood – this was going as planned.

“The order I give you all is absolute! Find the child! Bring him, the Skeleton Witch and the Magician of Kindness here! The child will be trained and the other will face Justice!” Loud cheering was heard through the hall as Patience looked at her brothers and sisters; Bravery, Justice, Perseverance and Integrity. If everything went as she had planned now – they would soon have a sixth member of the council. A member that hadn’t been present for almost two thousand years. Patience smirked – she didn’t have any hurry, she could wait.

That was what she was good at after all.

* * *

I looked down into my cup of coffee and tried to ignore the burning gaze from the queen of monsters. She had stared at me since this morning and I had a hard time not to notice it. Frisk had taken Alex to school but I had to make new arrangements for him. I didn’t have the funds to keep him in the private school sector that Derek had put him in.

I had called his teacher this morning – making up excuses for why he hadn’t gone to school these past days and that his mother and father wasn’t allowed to pick him up due to a court order. They bought the whole thing, but only because I had been the one that had dropped him off and picked him up since he started there. I had given them his new address and told them that they could not give it to anyone – not even his mother and father. After the call I had made sure that Alex was ready for school. Toriel had bought him new clothes the day before as I was too weak to get out of bed. After that I promised myself that I wouldn’t let anyone take care of my little brother – he was my responsibility and it had been my choice to bring him with me.

I let my thin skeleton fingers grasp the cup – making the bones warm as they touched the heated surface. My little brother had been quite angry with me when I told him that he couldn’t see his mother and father again – trying to explain that they weren’t nice people. He had yelled and screamed at me – that was a first. After that he didn’t talk to me at all. This morning he had just stared in front of him and not making eye contact when I had made him ready for school. Frisk had promised me that they would bring them to school and back home. I had nodded at that – thinking it was best to leave the child alone for a while until he had settled down a bit, even though it hurt like hell in my chest. My brother had never been like that against me, but what could I expect? I took him away from his mother and father.

I raised the cup to my mouth and tried to focus on holding it steady – not thinking that I was alone with Toriel in the small kitchen. Sans was out on some business and he wouldn’t be home until later that day. Everyone else was working except Toriel that _magically_ had the day off today. Sans felt my nervous emotions and tried to sooth them from the huge distant we had between us right now. Right now I would rather be back in my cave, chained, alone and sad than be here in this kitchen together with the royal monster that seemed not too impressed over my noticeable existent right now. Even though her mood had been better that night when I had revealed everything, her emotions had soured once again. She gave me angry glances when she thought that I didn’t see anything and she criticized like a queen at any chance she got. I was afraid to move, breath and talk. I felt unsure of everything I did and tried to do. I let the warm drink slide down my throat – making it burn the whole way down. I wished that Chara was here with me so I wouldn’t be alone. Wonder where she was at?

“So what are you planning to do now?” Toriel suddenly asked me with a sharp voice as she was preparing lunch. I almost dropped the cup as I was scared of her voice and winced at the sound of it – I didn’t drop it though and I didn’t even spill a single drop. I glanced over to Toriel and swallowed.

“I- I don’t know yet… First I need to find a new school for Alex and –“

“Why? Is the school he is going too not to your liking?” She interrupted me calmly.

“It is but –“

“So why are you changing it then?” I felt ashamed over her question. She knew why I had to change it.

“Because I can’t afford it…” I whispered and felt the redness creep up my face.

“If you had been working instead of – “ I interrupted her.

“What do you think I have been doing Toriel? Sitting on my ass all day these past seven years and doing nothing? Is that what you think Derek been making me do? Babysit his son?” I snapped back at her in frustration.

“Language. If you had not left us you would not have such problems with your younger brother’s education” she said and just glared at me. I felt my anger rise inside.

“Did you not hear anything I told you guys that night?! I left because I had to! To save and protect you!” Toriel slammed the knife she had in her hand and drove it an inch into the kitchen bench.

“If you just had told us that you were in trouble we would have helped you!” She raised her voice as she spoke. I slammed my hands into the kitchen table.

“I told you! I COULDN’T tell you! I was ordered to destroy you!”

“You could have – “

“NO, TORIEL! I COULDN’T! WHAT IS IT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND? If I had told you I would’ve broken the oath and that would have killed me!” My right eye was flaming red as I felt magic raise inside of me. Toriel glared at me with cold eyes.

“If you really cared about us – about Sans – you would rather chose death” she said. The comment hit me like a car smashing into the wall in 140 miles per hour. Fingers with the feel of ice traced its way up my spine – my heart stopped in my chest as I tried to find my vocal cords again. Suddenly tears ran down my face.

“Don’t you think I tried to find a way? To find something that could have brought me back to you guys? To find my way back to Sans? What I’ve done has brought much pain and sadness, but I did it because I love you guys… I tried to save you from a fate worse than death…” Toriel didn’t want to listen to me.

“I don’t understand why you came back. It would have been much better if you hadn’t – you will only bring destruction and pain to –“

“Tori, that’s enough” a deep angry voice was heard. I felt the emotion of anger inside too even though it wasn’t my own. Sans was standing beside me – glaring at his queen with steady eyes. Tori met his gaze too. He had teleported back to the apartment when he had felt my upset emotions.

“I don’t understand how you can take her back – after what she did to Papyrus, to Frisk – to all of us!” Sans just stared at her.

“Because she is my soulmate, Tori” he stated. Sans looked back at me and a smirk was seen.

“But she broke the bond! You told us!” She said and now I saw how she was filled with sadness and fear. Toriel was afraid that I would hurt them again – like I had done before. She didn’t trust me. Sans brought out his soul even though it was a private act between monsters do so. His soul was shining with the brightest of cyan – and blood red threads was running through it.

“It was never broken, Tori – it was just dormant. Undyne’s and Alphys’ theory that a true soulmate bond can’t be broken was true. She’s telling you the truth. She really did everything in her power to protect us. She never hurt Frisk and she fought us only because she had to” Sans said and reached his hand out to me to grab it. I let my finger slid through his and I looked down to the floor. “I trust her and I will stay by her side – she is a part of this family too. Toriel looked at me and at Sans. I knew that fear – the fear of anything happening to the one standing close to you. I had felt it myself and I had felt it for them. I laid a hand above my pounding heart and met Toriel’s golden eyes.

“I promise, that I won’t hurt your family again, Toriel. I rather turn to dust than hurt you guys again. When I did it – I did out of necessity. Every hit, every cut, every punch and … death tore my soul a bit more. There is much I wish that I hadn’t done – the curse I put over your husband and Gaster – sending all of your children to their terrible fate. But there isn’t anything I can do about that now, but –“

“Sylfaen, please stop” Toriel said with sorrow filling her voice and posture. “What you have done has made much damage. When we lost you everyone was filled with sorrow and anger. You hurt us all. Sans was the one suffering the most though. He is a dear friend of mine and I don’t want him to be hurt again. Understand why I may not be as forgiving as the rest of our family to what you have done, but that’s because they are my family. In my world, family turn to each other when times are bad even though…” She became silent. I knew now – Toriel, then one I had seen as a mother figure, wouldn’t trust me as she once did.

“I – I understand… I will find somewhere else to live” I said and Sans feelings of shock hit me. He turned to me.

“Babe, you don’t have to – “ I turned to him and smiled sadly at him.

“Sans, I have to. I can’t force my presence on Toriel when she won’t trust me. No one should have to live through that. I’ll find a place for me and Alex to live in. I’ll try to get a job and support us” Sans sockets furrowed in concern.

“Then I’ll go with you. I’ll finally got you back and I won’t let you slip through my fingers again” he said. I shook my head.

“Sans, you can’t. You won’t leave Papyrus behind”

“Then he will go with us. He adores your little brother and –“

“And tear him apart from his family and friends here? Sans, please understand. I’ve been alone for so long with Alex that we need our own space and place to ease into this new routine we’re forming right now. We can still meet and you can come and stay at my place – but I refuse to be living off of someone that don’t want to have me here” I said and turned to Toriel. “I’ll pack the few things we have and try to find a new place. I will pay you back for the clothes you bought for my brother and for the food. We’ll be out before dinner” I quickly opened up a rift into the void before Sans could stop me. I had to be alone for a while.

When the darkness enveloped me in its nothingness I let the tears fall. My body shaking and trembling with the sadness. How could this be my happy ending? What had Asriel meant by that anyway? I was in a limbo – a place between homes. I never liked the place where I had lived before with Derek and my mother, but it had been home. Somewhere to rest and feel safe – where someone trusted me. Now I wasn’t welcome into the place where my heart had always been. The door shut in front of me and I had put Alex in a situation where I never wanted him to be. No child deserved this. I was useless as a guardian for my brother, I couldn’t even support him.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me – pressing me to soft fabric smelling of ketchup and old books. A soft but deep voice whispering in my ear.

“You are not useless nor unwanted” I sobbed into the sleeve of his jacket and tried to get rid of the stupid tears that still kept coming. “Just give her some time. It has been much for her; seeing all of us so devastated after you left us, seeing Frisk so hurt when you guys came back and the return of the daughter she lost seven years ago. She will come around, eventually” Sans voice were so soothing and his feelings so warm. I wasn’t alone – he was there with me and I could trust him. There was people that wanted me and that cared for me.

“I’m a mess” I whispered. Sans chuckled a bit.

“Yeah, you’re quite messed up” he said and I smiled. He didn’t mean anything by that. We were quiet for a while before I spoke.

“Sans?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“What have you guys been doing when I wasn’t there with you?” Sans laid his head between my neck and shoulder – trying to get his thoughts straight. He was quiet and I knew that he was thinking something over. His emotions was feeling sad and unsure.

“At first, we tried to find you – then forget you. After a while we stopped talk about you, as if you never existed” I could understand that even though the truth hurt. I’d hurt them and they wanted answers and when they didn’t get they just pretended that nothing happened.

“You too?” Sans was quiet for a bit. In the distant I could hear the clicking sound from the dragons of the void and the rumbling from the alpha.

“Me too. I tried to forget you and start new and fresh. Find something or someone else to focus my mind on” he said and I could feel the guilt rage inside of him. He wasn’t proud of it and the jealousy took a grip of my heart. How many women had warmed his bed? How many had stayed and had their heart broken by him when he finally left them? Even though I didn’t have any right to feel that way it was hard to get rid of the feeling. Sans continued.

“I dated a few women for a while – both humans and monsters but it never worked out. They were great in their own way but they were never you” he said and his arms tighten around me. I could understand why he had dated others though. The feeling of being alone in the morning when you woke up after a shattered soulmate bond could tear any monster or human apart – making them mad. That was what had happened to my mother after my father’s death.

“I could wake up in the morning and still feel your body against my bones and hear your voice when I was all alone. The way you scolded me when I didn’t pay my tab at Grillby’s. Every little thing that reminded me of you hurt like hell but slowly everything became better and the memories didn’t hurt as much – until Frisk had found a box from your cottage with your most precious things and books that they had taken with them. It was like opening up a time capsule. In that little box were small pieces of things that made you ‘ _you’._ Things you had gathered during your stay… It must’ve been fate that I would find the box during the move here and opened it” he whispered as I could feel his phalanges suddenly reach up my chest, brushing past my breast and sending trembles through my body, before he reached the necklace he had given me on our first date as soulmates. Its cyan blue light was the only thing that illuminated my features in the void and turning his bones blue. “You kept this…” he said and smiled in the darkness even though he couldn’t see it. My bony fingers slid over his and I liked how their textures felt against mine. Sorrow and sadness from these seven years that had passed surfaced and I knew he could sense the terrible anguish ripping through me like a wounded tiger defending itself against its attacker.

“It was the only thing that made everything real – that reminded me that what I had once was real… that the nightmares was real and that my sin had been done. It was the only thing that reminded me of the time I spent with you…” my voice became hoarse when I spoke and suddenly the tears had start running their race down my face again from my socket. “But when I saw you again – I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run away but run to you and explain – beg you to help me out of this mess. But I had to keep you safe. You guys and Alex was all that mattered to me and that was the only thing that kept me going…” Sans hummed at that and drew circles at my skin right under the cyan blue heart shaped pendant.

“What did you do before Alexander was born?” Sans asked and I became stiff and cold inside. That was a time I rather forget and never bring back to the surface of my mind. Sans felt my anguish and his breathing stopped. He turned me around and looked into my sockets where the red met the white.

“Syl, what did you do between the fight and Alex’s birth?” I swallowed and pulled up my shirt. I took his hands and let them trace their way over several scars under my breasts. Bumps of badly healed skin.

“I tried to take my life in all different ways. I couldn’t take it by disobeying orders as I knew that would only bring you terror – but if I took my own life by myself then everything would be okay and Derek would leave you alo – “ Sans took a strong grip of my wrists and pulled me into his chest where I now could feel how he trembled. Suddenly I heard sobbing and I knew that Sans was crying. His whole being shivered against me. I let my arms wrap themselves around him as I closed my eyes – and started to sing. Sans cried because he could have lost me long before he ever met me again – and I sang to sooth him, to show him that I was there.

We had booth been in pain. I had cried, been alone and called for someone and so had Sans. We both came to rescue one another – and in the end we truly belonged to each other.

This was the meaning of the soulmate bond.

* * *

The being looked into her crystal sphere that showed it the image of the woman and the skeleton monster in it. How they soothed each other in a time of need. The woman had been through much pain and the being knew how that pain burden her – but she had her fate and the being must see so it became as it had been decided for her. The being didn’t want that to happen though and it showed disapproving with a deep sigh. With a soft motion of its hand over the sphere made it show several new images of her – but in other timelines; other optional universes. A ruler, a wanderer, a poor and timid one – but she always had the same fate waiting for her in the end. How cruel this was to see her repeat her fate in every timeline – the being wished it to be broken. It shouldn’t be able for her to repeat it – it only brought suffering to her and those around her. In this timeline though; there was something new – something that had never happened before and the being hoped that this change of events would bring a new fate. But all it could do was hope and pray.

Hope.

Pray.

Again.


	11. Art

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11 is served!  
> It's a bit boring but a few hints here and there can be found ;D
> 
> Hope you'll like it!
> 
> Love ya!  
> PurpleNightSong

How had I ended up here? Right now? In this place? Filled with humans and monster? In a _fucking_ sunhat? I was standing in the middle of a square in the city together with everyone that was a member of this little group of dysfunctional monsters. My brother was running around chasing Frisk and Papyrus helped him to catch the other human in the group. Sans was sitting by a fountain – lazily licking an ice cream cone while Toriel and Asgore were trying to read the map filled with locations we would visit this sunny day. Alphys and Undyne were cuddling beside me while Alphys held a parasol in her tiny paws. The spring heat had come this week and everyone had waited for the weekend. A few days had passed since me Toriel had had our dispute in the kitchen and I had moved out together with my brother into a shabby apartment a few blocks away. I had teleported back to my old apartment and picked up a few things that I knew we had to have.

During the days when my brother was in school I tried to find a job. It was hard and I hadn’t found anything yet. Sans asked me constantly about it and every time he did I hid away the emotion of shame I felt. In the end I told him I had found a job as a waiter in a shady bar and that I would be working during the days. The bartender Gabriel had hired me in the end, saying that he didn’t have to know why I needed a new job. After that Sans stopped bugging me about the job.

Today was my day off and now I was sitting here in the sun with a sunhat and a yellow sundress. Undyne had braided my purple hair this morning after she had kicked the door open and invaded my home. Undyne had forced the dress I was now wearing upon my body, while Alphys had dressed my brother. Before I went outside I had used some magic to cover up my skeleton parts – making me look completely human. Undyne said that I didn’t need to be ashamed of who I was.  

When Sans had seen me his face had been covered by a blue blush and after that he looked away. I tried to not feel embarrassed when he looked at me but it was hard when I knew he was looking at my legs and everything that made me a woman. His pinpricks taking in the whole image of me – like he was studying what was his. His gaze caressing every inch of my body.

I sighed and closed my eyes – feeling the burning warmth on my fake skin. Sans glanced over to me as he licked his ice cream suggestively as the blush became deeper on my skin.

“You look **ice** today, ya’ know that?” I let a bored expression pass my face as he chuckled.

“Screw you, bone bag” I snarled at him.

“Glad to, if you gave me the chance” I smacked him in the back of the head while my face became flaming red.

“Not when my brother is present. Do you want me to tell Papyrus how babies are made?” I threatened him. Sans widened his eyes in horror.

“You wouldn’t…”

“Yes. I. Would. Don’t you dare me on that, Sans” I purred to him. He gave me an evil smirk as he leaned in closer to me.

“If you ever tell Papyrus how babies are made – I will make you scream during the practice of the ‘making’ part” he whispered and his tone of voice made me shivered. I smiled at him – letting my hand rest on his thigh while I whispered back to him.

“Now I _really_ want to tell him how babies are made” Sans winced at my statement but before he had a chance to answer me Toriel interrupted.

“We have decided that we should go to the museum and look at some of the paintings that are hanging there. Some of the paintings from New Home is there too. I think it would be a great opportunity for learning something from both human and monster history” Frisk stopped running when they heard their mother talking and rolled their eyes. Alex on the other hand threw his arms up in excitement from Papyrus shoulders. He liked museums and he liked art – so this was the best combo for him. I glanced at my little brother – this was the happiest I had seen him since we I told him he wouldn’t meet his mother and father anymore and since we moved out from Toriel’s apartment. The poor kid thought I was evil and he hadn’t talk much to me since that day. I started to regret that I had taken him with me.

A boney hand gripped mine and squeezed it gently. Sans had felt my upset emotions and when I turned to him he smiled.

“He will come around eventually” he said and dragged me with him when the group of monsters started to move towards one of the bigger buildings around the square. People was walking around and laughing while they enjoyed their weekend, and they moved out of the way when we came through. Then they saw me and Sans – and they stopped and whispered. Filth. Disgusting. How can she be with a monster? I looked at Sans and saw that he was disturbed by their comments. I sighed and let the mask fall – showing my disfigured face and body. Sans looked down at me and I could see him smirk at me when he saw what I did. I could hear their whispers around me.

“A monster?”

“Wait wasn’t she on the news a couple of years ago?”

“It’s the half breed”

“Disgusting”

“Who could ever let someone like that live?”

“Why hasn’t the police taken her in yet?” I clenched my fist and swallowed hard. I turned around to face them and tell them off – my speech on my tongue.

“I thought civilized people talked _to_ a person, not _about_ them. A sophisticated and elegant person mind their own business and stay out of others” a dark voice said to a couple of girls that had been standing there and whispered. I looked at the person talking. A tall human man with almost white skin and black hair. He had sunglasses on and he was wearing black jeans and a t-shirt. The fabric was tight over his muscles on the upper arms and his hair a bit messy. He had a leather jacket hanging over his shoulder and his eyebrow was raised. The girls turned around and looked ashamed and embarrassed as they stuttered their apology and quickly walked away. The man looked after them before he turned and walked towards me.

“Thank you but it wasn’t necessary at all – I could have handle that myself” I said to him. The man took off his sunglasses and showed me a pair of violet eyes. He was a bit thin over his cheekbones but he wasn’t unpleasant to look at.

“What gentleman would I be if I let a lady, like yourself, stand there and take their taunting and hate for something they are obviously jealous of?” he asked. It was something with his way of talking that reminded me of someone but I couldn’t say who. A bell was ringing in the back of my skull. Sans was standing there and I could see that he was annoyed – if I hadn’t seen that I would have felt it anyway.

“And what is it to jealous about?” I asked. The man grabbed my right skeletal hand and as he bent down to bow he kissed it like a true gentleman. _I think the dark ages called and wanted their sweet prince charming back._

“A beauty like yourself is a rare find these days. A lady like you should be escorted by a man that can defend you in times of needs like these” he said and glanced over the obviously annoyed skeleton standing beside me. Then I felt it – Sans was jealous.

“Hey, pal, chum, friend, buddy, pal. I suggest you let go of _my_ girl’s hand right this instant or else I gonna’ show ya’ a trick that will make ya’ think twice about these **lady** like manners of yours” I furrowed my brow and smirked at him.

“A true gentleman never fall to the level of empty threats. I hope you can stand up to those words you just uttered”

“Do ya’ call me a cowered?” Sans said with a challenge hidden in his voice. Sans sockets went dark and I could feel a dark aura surround him.

“I do not know – are you one?” The man asked back and I could feel the tense atmosphere. I quickly pulled my hand back and laid it on Sans’ shoulder.

“Hey, pal. I don’t know you. I’m glad you helped and I’m thankful for it but I’m not a lady and I have never been. You’ve mistaken” The man looked at me and I met his violet eyes that smiled back at me – that look he gave me right now reminded me so well of someone and it creeped me out.

“I think not, but I see that my presence concern both of you so I will take my leave. It was nice to meet you” the man said and bowed again before he turned around and walked away into the crowed. Me and Sans watched as he vanished from our eyes.

“I don’t like that guy” Sans said after a moment. “He reminds me of my old man but more human” that was when it hit me. Gaster. He reminded me too of Gaster. His manner, his way of being a gentleman, his way of taunting Sans. I swallowed and felt the guilt coming crushing down on me. Sans quickly turned to me.

“Babe, I didn’t mean it like that. My old man was weird even before he died. I never liked him either way”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I killed him” I whispered. “I took a life that I had fought to bring back to life once more. Now I can’t do that at all – he is gone forever and I have taken your and Papyrus’ father away from you guys…” Sans silenced me with a kiss. It was warm, soothing and filled with love. Love that I had missed and it was filled with promise.

“Gaster always wanted you to be happy. That is one thing he told me. That your happiness is priority and he wanted me to succeed where he failed. Even though he had other intentions from the start – he loved you until the end. He saved us more in a way to save you – even though he said he was sorry for what he had done. But I know that he did it more for you” Sans said and ignored every whisper around us. Toriel and the rest of the group was gone, me and Sans the only one the remained. I looked into his white pinpricks and wished that I never would have to leave his side – that nothing would ever happen to my soulmate standing in front of me.

“Thank you” I whispered back and felt how he whipped away a few tears that was streaming down my cheek from my sockets.

“Let’s get going. We’ve got to **ketchup** with the others” he said and winked at me. I let a laugh erupt from my chest as I followed Sans when he dragged me from the place we had been standing on.

* * *

The man was watching them from the shadow of the fountain. He had followed them since this morning and when W had heard what the other humans had said about her he had felt the rage in his whole being. To even think things like that showed him what a bad character they had inside of them. Why hadn’t that damn skeleton done anything about it? Why hadn’t he stood up for her? Why didn’t he protect her? She was worth everything in the world and her suiter couldn’t even defend her. Had the choice been a bad one?

“Stop thinking so much. You’ll wrinkle that pretty face of yours” a light voice said beside. W glanced down at the teenager beside him. Her red eyes and hazelnut brown hair reflected the light from the sun. In her arms she had a pot with a yellow flower with a face.

“And when did you get here? I thought you and Ab was looking out for the dangers” W said and looked down on the flower. Suddenly the flower turned their head(?) up and smiled at him.

“You’re trash like everyone else” the flower stated. W raised an eyebrow.

“And that’s coming from a weed” he said simply said without any more concern. “Where’s Ab?”

“His in the museum. He wanted to look at some paintings from the Underground. I don’t understand why, though. They smelled like mold already when I was living down there” she said. W sighed; Ab had always had a fascination for art at the weirdest of times.

“When you lived down there, Chara, everything was already old” W said and ignored her for a bit while he followed the half breed and the skeleton. In his chest his soul and heart ached for her.

“I don’t know what she sees in that smiley trash bag” the flower said the flower as he raised his brow at the sight of them.

“You don’t have to understand, Flowey. That’s how it is in the end. You should know how it felt like to _see_ her thoughts and almost feel them for that damn comedian” Chara said to the flower as trembled I disgust. W sighed again while the two of them bickered for a moment.

All W hoped for now was that Ab wouldn’t do anything stupid. 

* * *

Sans and I came inside of the museum and we could see the rest of the gang standing and waiting for them. When they approached them, Toriel gave them a suspect look. She studied me from bottom up and she didn’t give me her approval of either dress or that I was out as I was.

“Sorry, some idiots was were holding us back” Sans tried to explain. Toriel just nodded and turned around. Not a single word had she said to me since that day. I knew that if I ever tried to open my mouth in her presence so she could hear – she would try to push me down below my kneecaps.  Asgore looked from me to his wife as he felt how strained everything was. He gave me an apologetic glance and I just nodded silently. We split up in smaller groups of three and three. Asgore, Toriel and Frisk. Alphys, Undyne and Papyrus. In the end it was just me, Sans and Alex. My younger brother just looked at me before he grabbed on to Sans’ sleeve. I felt the sting in my heart when he did that. Sans felt it to so he looked at me before he turned to the kid.

“Hey, kiddo. Can I talk to ya’ for a sec?” Alex turned his head up before he nodded. Sans looked at me and I knew he was going to talk to him about this whole being mad and angry thing. Sans bent over me and kissed me on the cheek. “We’ll be back soon, babe. Look around for a bit” Sans said as he turned around to lead Alex away from the crowed. I looked around and sighed – what could I do? I started to walk around the halls filled with paintings until I came to the one containing all the paintings in the underground. I searched my eyes and found many paintings that had been hanging in the Hall of Judgement the last time I saw them. I looked around; families out on a trip looking at the princes and princesses in the paintings, couples that looked at paintings containing former kings and queens. Then there was the paintings with the former Captains of the Royal Guard. Undyne was there too but the one catching my sockets were the one containing my father – a tall and gentle but still powerful skeleton monster, wielding a sword. He must’ve had the height of Papyrus when I was young but he looked more masculine and more mature than Paps ever did. My father was hard describing – he had been a skeleton monster but not like anyone else. Even Sans, Gaster and Papyrus were all different too even though they came from the same genepool. Every monster was unique in their own way. I looked at my father – the same red pin pricks and the same kind of eternal grin, beside him was Grillby. The fire monster had been one of his generals and best of friends when my father had still been alive and when they had been young. I walked towards the painting and stopped where a line was drawn on the ground – no one was allowed to go any further or touch the old piece of art. I hoped my father was proud over me even though I had done so many bad things – but I doubted that. I felt how my heart started to ache as I longed for the lost childhood were he had been present. Would I still be here if my father had lived? Would I’ve grown up in the monster society? Would we have been put under the barrier? Would I’ve fallen in love with Gaster? Sans? There had been so many possibilities that could have happened, but hadn’t. My eternal grin faltered a bit. What I once had called family had been ripped apart instead of living a loving and secured life.

“This one is well painted don’t you think?” a dark and masculine voice suddenly said – it sent shivers down my spine but not in an unpleasant way at all. I turned my head and saw a human male standing there looking at the painting. He had a darker shade over his chin that shoved that he hadn’t shaved this morning. He had a broad and strong face and a few wrinkles that showed that he was in his middle age – broad shoulders. He looked like a viking – but without the blond hair. His hair was… violet, just like mine and brown eyes that almost shifted in red. I tilted my head as I studied him. What was it with me today and having the feeling of recognizing people I never met before?

The man turned his head towards me and he smiled with his whole face. I smiled back at him without knowing it – feeling safe and content with him there. Like someone protecting me.

“Yes it is. It shows how proud and strong this monster was in his life. Representing the deep morals he really stood for and the longing for humans and monsters to be equals” I said to him and looked back to the painting. That had been my father’s wish from the start. What I didn’t notice were the sad smile that came over his face.

“Yes, sadly his wish didn’t come true. Even though humans and monster are beings created by fate – they fight and kill each other. Maybe we aren’t made to live together” He said and looked at me. I met his eyes and furrowed my brows at him in sadness. It wasn’t long ago me myself had had that thought.

“My mother and father were of different species” I began. “My mother was human and my father a monster. What I could see, they loved each other very much. I’m a result of that love. My mother was heartbroken when my father died though… and my soulmate is a monster that cares and loves me deep. All that matters is the love that can be created between two beings – that should be enough” I said and my hand touched the blue aquamarine pendent resting on my chest. The small amount of magic in it pulsated as it reacted at my emotions. The man looked at me and smiled.

“You think monsters and humans can live together?” He asked and without hesitation I answered him.

“Yes, I think so. Long ago both human and monster wielded the power of magic but humans seems to have lost it. But we all feel, we all have emotions; we love, we hate, we feel anger and sadness. Are we really that different if we all think like that?” I asked him. The man shoved his hands down his pockets of the blue jeans he was wearing and chuckled heartwarming.

“Maybe not” He turned his face up towards the painting again. “You have a big and strong heart; strong ideals and morals. Your father is proud of you” he said. I turned to him and gave him a sad smile.

“I don’t think so… I’ve done much that go against the way he thought and did and –“ Suddenly I felt a strong hand on my head that patted it gently. I looked at the man that watched me from above.

“But you changed, didn’t you? You have tried to make things right and I know that he sees it. I just know that your old man is proud of you” he ruffled my hair before he started to walk off waving his hand over his shoulder. I followed him with my eyes. That was weird.

“Hey, babe. Who was that?” Sans suddenly asked. I looked to the right and saw both Sans and Alex there. My little brother looked at me with eyes that held embarrassment in them.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met him before, but he seemed oddly familiar…” I said and saw how the man’s violet hair disappeared in the crowed. Then I looked down at Alex and saw that he was almost crying. I bent down to his level and reached out my arms. He threw himself around my neck and sobbed silently into my shoulder.

“Hey champ, what’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry… “ and my heart melted at that. I looked up at Sans that smiled at me gently and I gave him a smile back. I hushed my little brother and kissed his head.

“I’m sorry too, honey. I know it must be hard to leave them behind – but we must at this point… I’m sorry I had to rip you away from them…” Alex just nodded as I stood up with him in my arms. I whispered a ‘thank you’ to Sans. He just nodded.

I was happy, I had my little brother back and now Sans was with me again – but why did it feel like I had missed some very important signs?

* * *

_I looked at the skeleton brothers bickering over something again – as they always did. The taller one, Papyrus, smacked his brother over the head in anger. His red and black armor with the blood red boots was clinging to him like a second skin. I could feel the irritation from the smaller skeleton through the bond we shared._

_“How can you be so stupid? Don’t you under understand how important that vase was?” The smaller skeleton with a golden tooth in his mouth growled at the taller one. Sans was usually in a bad mood in the morning and after that he had tripped over one of Papyrus most precious vases his mood had become sourer._

_“It’s not my fricking fault that ya’ have trash standing everywhere around the house!” he snapped at him. I put a hand up over my mouth and snickered. They both turned their head towards me sitting in the couch._

_“What are you laughing about, half breed?” Papyrus scowled at me. I rose from my seat and waved my hand as the pieces of the vase came together again. My black dress reached down to the floor and red band of silk was hanging from my waist. My purple hair reaching down to my knees._

_“You two bickering, again. Over a fucking vase. Grow up” I told them and looked at Papyrus that gave me the evil eye._

_“I can’t understand what you see in her, you piece of trash” Papyrus said and grabbed the vase that was now floating in the air in front of him._

_“I don’t see anything in her. I just use her for sex” Sans told his brother and I raised my brow._

_“Who is using who?” I purred at him and I could see his whole black clothed body tremble as he heard the sharpness in my voice. He slowly turned around and gave me a fearful grin – I felt the nervousness creep over from him. I just gave him a soft glance with my eye socket and human eye. Even though this monster could use both dirty and harsh words – he still showed me a loving side, but only when we were alone. Papyrus looked at us before he stormed off without a word. I looked at Sans and gripped his soul – pulling him towards me. I could see his sweat appearing on his skull when he was hanging in front of me. I gripped his chin bone._

_“Just so you know, trash bag. YOU belong to ME” I said and kissed him fiercely, feeling the lust rise inside of me._

_~_

_A pile of dust – that was all that remained. He had been standing in front of me just a few seconds ago, but now he was gone. Our bond was dead and I couldn’t feel him anymore. My face were frozen in shock and I couldn’t believe at all that he wasn’t standing there. He had smiled with half lidded sockets – blood running from his mouth, then he was gone, reaching out his skeleton hand to me. What was left of his soul was floating above the pile of dust – slowly losing its shine and fading away.. I felt tears run down my face. I had tried to turn back time – but I couldn’t get a grip of it. Something was hindering me from turning it back. Never had I cried – nor showed any sadness. Sans was gone… he would never return. Never taunt me, use his stupid puns, hold me, kiss me… I turned my head towards the woman standing a bit from me. The one who had taken his life as he had protected me just stood there laughing. I closed my eyes and felt my anger rise. How dare she? How could she? I rose from my place. The woman was covered by a hood and I couldn’t see her at all. Everyone was gone. Everyone. I summoned a spear-like bone into my hand. Everything was so unclear around me._

_“You killed them all… everyone… everyone is gone. I’m all alone. No one to call for rescue. But tell me; did you enjoy when you killed them? What had they ever done to you? Just because of the road you’ve chosen…” The dragon of the void appeared behind me as I talked and gathered its energy in its mouth. I turned up my head to her and my red eye were flaming with every piece of magic inside of me._

_“ **YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME!”** Everything around me exploded in light._

* * *

“NO!” I screamed into the dark when I flung up out of the bed. I tried to find the woman and but I couldn’t find her. My eye were flaming and illuminating my surroundings red as the dragons of the voids was around me, gathering their magic. I quickly searched for Sans beside me but he wasn’t there. Where was he? I panicked and tried to search for him – our bond that linked us. It wasn’t there. I widened my eyes in fear. Where was he?

“Babe, what’s the matter? Why are the Gaster Blaster’s out of the void?” I quickly turned around in my bed and saw Sans standing in his blue hoodie in the doorway to my bedroom, the red illuminating light coloring the fabric purple. He had teleported to me – that was why I couldn’t sense our bond. He stood there with his eternal smirk on his face. But he dropped it as soon he saw my tear streamed face.

“Babe?” he asked. “It’s me, Sans, let the blaster go back where they belong” he spoke to me with a soft voice. He was here, he was alive.

“I thought you died…” I whispered to him with a hoarse voice. He took an uncertain step towards me.

“What do you mean? Did you dream about when Gaster killed me back –“

“No, I dreamt about something else. You, me, Papyrus. Everyone died…” I took a firm grip of my head closing my eye sockets as the memories from the dream emerged from the depth again.

“You all died in front of me… You too… you just became a pile of dust… I was alone” my voice trembled when I uttered those words. Then images of Sans and Papyrus came into view.

“It was you but you all were different… Papyrus was cruel and cold… you too… Even I was different…”  Nothing was as before but it was still the same. Sans took a seat beside me as the dragons watched his every move.

“Syl, babe… I often have a **blast** when I’m with you but…. Could you put them away?” He asked. I watched the dragons of the void and made a soft move with my hand. They faded out of this reality and Sans released a breath he had been holding. He reached for me and pulled me into his chest.

“What do you mean that we all were different?” I tried to explain for him. The clothing, the way we talked and acted. Papyrus obsession with vases. At that revelation Sans was holding a laugh so he wouldn’t wake up Alex that was sleeping in the room next to mine.

“I think it was just a dream” Sans said. “A bad one at least. I would really pay someone a **skele-ton** of money to see Paps hurt a fly” I snickered at that.

“Yeah… you’re right, but it felt so real… You turned to dust in front of my eyes… I hurt like hell… I couldn’t feel our soulmate bond anymore… I couldn’t even turn back time to save you… to bring you all back…” Sans stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head when I explained. After a moment of silence where we just were enjoying each other’s company – something hit he had said to me.

“What did you call the dragons of the void by the way?” Sans swallowed and laughed as light blue pearls of sweat appeared on his skull.

“Hehehe… Gaster Blasters. It was my old man that introduced me to them and thought me how to use them, and he called them that too” I was quite for a moment. Thinking that over.

“That little piece of bony ass shit” I suddenly said. Sans looked down at me and wondered what was wrong. I looked up at him.

“I found the dragons in the void first and _he_ takes credit for them? I will find that piece of shit and kill him _again”_ I said and Sans started to laugh. He turned me around before he looked down into my eyes and I felt something primitive wake up inside of me.

“I god, I love you when you do that! You know that?” I was quiet for a while before I answered him.

“Show me” Sans became quiet as a cyan blue blush appeared on his face. We hadn’t been together at all as soulmates since we had rediscovered our bond. He swallowed and I could feel his lust rise inside of him too. I liked this soulmate bond, being able to read him like an open book. If he took the bait this would be the first time since I came back.

“As you wish” he whispered and bent down – closing his eyes and searching my lips. I met him and let him do what he wanted. The feeling of him close made me tremble.

In the night we loved for the first time in years and I found comfort in his embrace.

The dream far back in my head, forgotten for the moment.


	12. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. The hunting season has begun in my contry so I was away hunting. I've also been busy with work - feeling like I don't want to be a teacher anymore. Like I've lost the spark. Felt depressed and unmotivated to do anything. I know that this chapter is late and I don't know when I can update next time.   
> I sorry
> 
> PurpleNightSong

I watched as the sun started its descent down the sky. Sans was standig beside me smiling as he always did. His battle body ridiculously blue. His pin pricks formed as stars in his eyes as he watched the sunset.

“I love this time of the day, don’t you?” he asked me. I laughed. He was so silly sometimes but he was so cute. This little blueberry could really see good and nice things in everyone and everything.

“I guess so, but before I was released from the cave I hated it. It mocked me every time it rised and every time it fell… Whatever I did, I could never go up there and look at it. A reminder that I was always alone” Sans suddenly gripped my hand.

“But now the incredible Sans is here with you, am I not?” his smile was genuine but a bit naïve. Paps always warned him about that – that he had to be careful with who he trusted. I gave Sans a smile that told him everything I felt for just him.

“Yes you are and I’m glad for it – that it’s you that are here with me” the small skeleton blushed at my words and turned away from me. His feelings I could sense inside my own soul.

A few days ago we had committed to a soul mate bond – much to Papyrus’ displease. Even though he was so innocent I had to protect him – because I loved him deeply. He cared and trusted me from the beginning even though Alphys – former captain of the royal guard of Toriel – didn’t.  She wanted me dead but Sans didn’t. It was him I had to thank for my life.

“Uhm… I think we should head home now. Brother is certainly worried by now” Sans said silently. He still couldn’t look into my eyes. I smirked. He was such a child.

“I think your brother is sleeping on the couch again. Sans, please just let me be with you alone tonight” I whispered and dragged him to me. Sans’ skull was covered by the blue blush when he looked at me.

“O – okay” he stuttered. When I embraced him I kissed his skull softly and let my long purple hair cover us.

“I love you my dear little blueberry”

“I love you too” he said. There we sat together watching the sun set at the horizon and see the moon rise – taking its place instead.

~

My eyes were widened in shock. Sans stood there with a huge hole through his battle body. He was standing in front of me with tired eyes. The magic energy that had made the hole was now gone but the one making it was still standing – smirking under her hood of her robe. Sans reached for me.

“Syl… it hurts” he said before he fell. I lounged forward in a try to catch him but when I was about to wrap my arms around him – he exploded into small pieces of dust. No. Not my dear sweet little blueberry. His soul, his pure innocent soul, floated in front of me before it vanished before my eyes. The woman laughed at me.

“Your existence is a curse for everyone around you. You should never have been born” I whispered to myself when she had uttered those words.

“I never wanted this, I never wanted you to die. I never wanted anyone of you to die…” I grasped at the hem of my dress as tears rolled down – making dark circles on the fabric as they hit it. Curse this and those that had taken my power to bend time away. Curse them all. Papyrus, sweet Undyne, the strong Alphys, Toriel and Asgore. Everyone dead. Gone. I couldn’t save them.

“You have nothing left to fight for. Give up” I slowly rose up from the cold floor. The flaming light from the torches made shadows dance in the room. Slowly the aching of our ripped bond became stronger, my magic rising inside of me as it came back to me.

“He never did something to you. He was innocent” my eye socket began to emit red flames and my dress began to swirl around me and so did my magic. “He was always there for me. He always cared, always believed in me when no one else did…” a rip through the fabric that separated the real world from the void, opened up – inside it were red eyes glowing and something growling.

“I can never forgive you for this” the growling became stronger and red energy was gathering inside for the rift. “You have killed my family, my friends, my soulmate and for that –“ I looked up at the woman that was frozen in fear. “You gonna’ have a bad time” the room was filled with a red light and I closed my eyes. Hoping to get where ever Sans and the rest of my family were.

* * *

I suddenly woke up again – my heart racing in my chest like a wild horse being caught. I took a firm and steady grip of my shirt as I tried to calm myself down before Sans noticed. He was already gone since he had to be at work at 4 am. I threw a glance at the clock. 6.30 am. Alex was about to go to school and Frisk would pick them up at 7 am. I threw my blanket off of me and walked to Alex’ room and knocked on the door. I could hear a somewhat sleepy kid in there.

“Come on champ, time to get up. Frisk will be here soon” I walked into the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast for my younger brother as the dream came back to me. It had been about me and Sans again – but this time he had been different from the Sans I loved and cared for. More innocent and more like Papyrus – but I had loved him in the dream and the lose didn’t became any easier by that. I had been different too – more mild and more mature. Why did it happen? Why did I dream about different outcome of my life? Were those dreams even? They seemed so real.

“But are they really that different?” a voice said behind me suddenly. A voice that belonged to a teenager and with a somewhat teasing tone weaved into it – a voice I had heard in the back of my head these past seven years. I dropped my knife that I had picked up when I had cut the vegetables to the sandwiches I was making Alex. I turned around with the left socket flaming red and the right completely black. I was met by a teenager, looking almost like Frisk. She had hair to her shoulders and rosy cheeks and red eyes. Her yellow and green striped shirt didn’t go all too well with her brown shorts and leather shoes. The shirt were a few sizes too big for her and it made her look like a child. She was smirking and holding a pot with a golden flower with a… face?

“Chara?” I whispered. The teenager smiled at me. “Where have you been?”

“Both here and there. Picked up an old friend of mine that was still left in the underground” Chara said and lifted the pot. The flower smiled at me.

“Hi! I’m Flowey!  Flowey the Flower and you make me sick, lady!” I raised my brow. That little shit had an attitude problem. Chara pinched one of his leaves in the crown and the flower made a hissing noise.

“Play nice – you don’t know what this ‘sick lady’ is capable of” Chara said and released him. Flowey made a sour expression and mumbled something as he nudged the leaf with his… hand? I turned my head to Chara again. I was happy to see her – she had been a huge part of my life these past years and to be separated from her was harder than anything else almost. Even though, I had kept on living without her these past weeks since we separated. I felt ashamed for not looking for her. Chara smirked at me.

“You can be calm, I’ve been busy” she said. I looked at her as if she could read my mind. She smiled again.

“We’ve been too close to each other these past years. I think it has formed some kind of bond – I think that’s why I haven’t faded yet. You keep me alive with your magic” she said and stared at her.

“What –“ But I was interrupted by a scream from a small child that was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“CHARA!” I watched Alex and how he quickly ran to the teenager. They had interacted through me before but he had no idea how she looked – or did he? Chara put Flowey down on the table and bent down as she spread her arms out and hugged the small child. Chara always had a sour and bitter attitude – on the border on the more sadistic way, but what I saw now was a softer side of Chara. She had always cared for my brother – said that he reminded of her own, of Asriel, that had been killed by humans several years ago right after she had died herself.

I watched them and how the child hugged her tighter. Chara on the other hand smiled and felt him near her. I knew so well that love she felt for him – it was the same love I had for him. I turned around and continued with the sandwich. I didn’t want to disturb them as I knew how much Chara had missed Alex. I wondered how I would tell Sans that Chara was here and that she had the former prince with her in the shape of a flower. I hoped that he would listen to what I had to say – before he threw a tantrum. Heck, how would I even explain this to Toriel and Asgore? I had their two supposed dead children in my kitchen and one of them had been living inside my head for a little more than seven years.

“Hey, brat, what do you think you’re doing?” I heard Flowey say and I turned around with the knife in my hand – glaring at him with a black socket and a flaming eye, an eternal smirk plastered on my face.

“What did you call my little brother?” I asked the weed. He yelped and he… fled? Over the table with the help of vines that had come out of his pot. I gripped him with my magic – or rather tried to as I felt that he didn’t have any soul. Instead I gripped around the pot and made him fly to me. He pouted and glared at me – Chara and Alex just watched from their place.

“Listen here, you weed. One bad word from you about my brother and I will play ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ with your damn petals” The flower was about to say something but at that the doorbell rang. Frisk. I looked at Chara but she just smiled. Frisk was here. I had forgotten about them until now – how would Frisk react? They had been possessed by Chara before and I didn’t really know what kind of feelings they were caring towards the child that was now alive again.

“Open up” Chara said and I did. Frisk smiled at me when I opened up for them and they got into the hallway. Took off their jacket and began to talk.

“Is Alex done or is he still eating breakfast?” They asked and I scratched the back of my neck.

“Uhm… Frisk… I think there is someone you need to meet” They turned around and looked at me with shocked and surprise in their face but they just nodded at that.

“Okay? What is it?” They asked. I just signed to them that they should follow me and they did.

“Howdy, brat” I heard Flowey say when Frisk entered the kitchen. Frisk just stood there watching the pot standing on the table.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Chara said and rose from the ground. Frisk locked eyes with the other teenager. They almost looked like twins. I knew why Toriel had adopted Frisk and I knew why everyone thought of them as similar. Frisk just stared at them before their face opened up after the shock of seeing them there.

“Chara? Asriel? What are you guys doing here?” I quickly looked at Frisk and then at Flowey. It couldn’t be…

“Wait? What? Asriel?” The freaky flower just smirked and gave me bad smile. How the hell could this be the child, the ghost child, that had released me from my chains. I must’ve had my mouth opened because Alex had gone over to me and closed it.

“Mom told us never to stare at people with open mouths” he said and I snapped out of it. I turned to them all.

“I think it’s best for everyone to stay at home right now. I call the school and say that there is some hindrance for both of you to come – the flue or something” I told them and went out of the kitchen to make the call.

* * *

We were sitting around the table in the kitchen as Alex was playing some games in his own room. We were four around it and I looked at all three of them. Frisk were in some kind of shock still and I could understand that. Chara had once possessed Frisk – making them kill everyone again and again until she lost power over the child. Time and time again had they killed Sans in the Hall of Judgement. Time and time again had that freaking little weed, that was actual Asriel, saved them by opening the barrier before Chara had forced Frisk to reset. They had tried to explain everything to me – but it was hard to get a grip on.WWhen Asriel had died, his dust had been spread over a field of golden flower and when Alphys once had experimented with liquid determination she had injected it into one of the flowers on the field and thus she had created Flowey. This version of Asriel didn’t have any soul though – so he felt no emotions. He instead tried to find something to occupy himself with to find feelings and thus the reset of the timeline had begun. Frisk had tried to get Flowey with them once they left the last time but they had said that he couldn’t. I massaged my forehead.

“So wait, if I understand this. Stop me if I’m wrong. My curse caused both of you to die – you by eating those flowers and you by humans?” Chara and Flowey nodded. “This lead to Asriel to become dust and spread over the field. Alphys finds this field and picks a flower and injected some determination into it. This freaking weed” Flowey hissed at me. “Starts to restart every single timeline and then just ‘poff’” I pointed at Frisk. “You’re there and suddenly you can reset the timelines too because of Chara”

“When the brat fell down into the underground I lost my ability to reset because their determination was stronger than mine” Flowey said and tried to look passive.

“Okay, this far I’m with you all – but what I don’t understand is how Frisk came to be possessed by Chara” I said. Chara turned her red gaze to me.

“Frisk fell onto the same spot I died on” she said.

“But to be able to possess someone you need to be of the same essence” then it hit me. I brought out my soul that was blood red. All my life I had thought that my soul’s color was the color of my magic. Frisk smiled and brought out theirs and it was bright red. Chara brought out hers and it was a darker shade of red than any of us – Flowey on the other hand just watched as the three souls floated above him.

“We’re all made out of the same essence” Frisk said. “Flowey lost his ability to reset the timelines, and I lost it a few years after the barrier was broken – around the time you were released” I looked at my soul and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My soul was made out of human essence – I had a human soul.

“You lost it because she” Chara pointed at me to Frisk. “Had more determination than anyone of us. What I’ve learned there is only one with determination in their soul that can bend the time and that’s the one that has the strongest. Determination is regarded to be the strongest and most dangerous essence of them all. With determination you can bend time, start wars, kill and destroy everything” I looked at Chara. But this ability I taught myself – found a rip in the weave of reality and bent it to my will – to a greater cost. This I had found out during my journey after I left MT Ebott and before I came back to Gaster. I was numb – too much information was swirling inside of my head, giving me a headache.

“It was because of my imprisonment you were all able to reset…” they nodded. My curse had done much and my imprisonment to. Everything was too much.

Suddenly I heard something drink the last coffee in my cup and the noise reminded me of when Alex tried to get the very last drip of soda out of his bottle. I turned down my head and saw that damn flower was down in it. He glared up at me and gripped the handled with a vine and waved it in front of my face.

“Hey, lady! I’m out of the good stuff, give me some more” I felt how everything snapped as I took a hold of his stem that was his neck.

“Watch yourself or else I will put some weed killer into it next time” Flowey gave me a horrific twisted face at that.

“I dare you, bitch” he said as vines sprouted out from his pot. I let my socket go dark and let the other one flare with magic. I tightened my grip and snarled at him.

Just when I was about throw him into the wall in kitchen we heard someone open up the front door and I froze to the ground. I went cold inside. Sans was home and I hadn’t felt him come home and I hadn’t prepared myself – how would I explain this to him.

“Babe, you won’t believe what just happened in the entrance, the guy who always look at you funny, he –“ the sentence stopped when Sans rounded the corner and saw what was happening. Frisk sitting beside Chara, me standing up on my way to throw Flowey into the wall and Flowey vines around my neck as if he wanted to choke me. Sans looked at the scene for a while before his eyes became completely dark as he looked down. I could feel his anger inside of him and it was rising rapidly – like a bolt of lightning hitting the ground before the sound came.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening. Here?” Frisk rose from the ground and tried to explain.

“Sans, listen before –“ but it was too late. Sans had taken a grip of Chara’s soul and pressed her to the wall behind her. Everything happened so fast so I didn’t have time to react – Sans could be quick if he wanted to. I saw how Chara was in pain even though she didn’t say anything – Sans on the other hand stared at her with a foul face.

“Dirty brother killer on the loose” he said. I quickly dropped Flowey’s pot and took a quick step in front of Chara. Flowey was hanging from my neck in his vines but he soon dragged himself up to my shoulder.

“Sans, please listen –“

“You dare to creep out of that little pretty head you’ve been hiding in, have ya?” He said and looked straight through me. “I’ve longed for this day”

“Sans stop this!” I said again louder and with a more commanding tone. He snapped out of it and glared at me – and I felt how I shivered inside of me. He was angry and he was displeased with me right now.

“Aren’t you happy about this? She possessed you for so long – why do you defend her? She killed me, them and everyone. She made Frisk go on a killing spree!” I reached out to him but he pushed my hands away. That hurt more than any hit I’d ever taken in my whole life.

“Sans, she saved Frisk that night, she –“ Sans eyes became totally black as he interrupted me.

“So you’re now teaming up with the demon child now, huh? Whose side are you really on?” He sad and I felt my heart crack. I let my arms drop to my sides.

“We’ve been together for so long, Sans. I’m not teaming up with anyone, but Chara has done much good too. I don’t say that she is totally free of guilt but she has done much to compensate that” Sans sockets were filled with anger as he made his hands into fists.

“I don’t understand how you’ll can forgive them – both of them – after what they all did! She is free and she can finally get what she deserves and you won’t let me!” He yelled at me.

“What about me? I’ve hurt you all. I almost killed you and your brother. I KILLED Gaster and I cursed you and them! Shouldn’t I be judged too?” Sans didn’t look at me.

“It’s different –“

“How? How is it different? Because I love you? Because I’m your soulmate? Tell me Sans!” He turned to me and screamed:

“Because it just is! Can you shut the hell up and let me finish this?”

“Hey, smiley trash bag, if I were you I would shut the fuck up before –“

“Hey, it’s **weedless** to say but – I don’t want to hear you stupid voice right now” Sans snarled at the plant before he turned to me again. “Either you let me shred that little brat into pieces or else I’m leaving” I looked at Sans – was he making me choose?

“Sans, I don’t want to choose… please don’t make me do this… I own Chara much”

“You’re messed up if you’ve listened to her lies! It’s not only your outside that has changed but also the inside – this I never expected of you” at that I felt my whole world go black. My heart went blank, empty and numb and my soul too. Sans looked at me and I felt agony ravage through my body. We had finally managed to find each other – find a way to be together again after all these years. Why was he doing this? Why wouldn’t he listen?

“Why won’t you listen? Why can’t you ever listen to what I have to say?!” I asked him bluntly.

“Because you make some poor choices sometimes!” He said back. I quickly cut the connection he had to Chara and stared at him. Tears gathering into my sockets. He didn’t trust me at all – he would never trust me.

“And the biggest one seems to be that I let you into my life again! I thought that you would understand! That you would listen! THAT YOU’VE CHANGED! But I was wrong!” Sans flinched at my voice and now he saw how his words had hurt me – but he was fired up too.

“Seems so” he said coldly and suddenly I felt nothing – absolutely nothing in my soul. He had shut me out.

“GET.OUT!” I yelled at him and he just stared at me coldly before he popped out of existent. I let the tears run freely now. Everything was cold and empty – I was totally alone inside.

Suddenly I felt a presence that I had missed these past weeks – Chara. I could feel her presence inside even though she was standing there. She came closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey –“

“I thought he would understand and at least listen before he judged, but I was wrong” I said and looked down at the floor. Frisk came and put another hand on my other shoulder. Flowey looking at me quietly – not saying a word. Frisk and Chara hugged me for comfort and I felt that it was needed at this point.

“Why did you and Sans fight?” I suddenly heard a tiny voice say. It was Alex and he looked at me with fear in his eyes. I was filled with sadness when I saw how terrified he was. I released myself from the embrace of Frisk and Chara and walked to him. His red hair were beginning to curl at his shoulders – I had to take him to a hairdresser soon to get it cut. I bent down and took his hands in mine. Flesh meeting bones.

“We had a disagreement and we didn’t see eye to eye on something”

“But you yelled and screamed…” his eyes was filling with tears.

“I know and I’m sorry” I said and hugged him.

“Will he come back?” Alex asked. He had come to see Sans as a father figure these past weeks as Derek was out of the picture and I filled the roll my mother should have. I pressed the little body closer to me and I shut my eyes. Now I had ripped him from that too.

“I don’t know” I whispered.

* * *

I was walking home from work the same night. It had been hectic and for once there had been a few more costumers at the bar. It had been a total mess because of it. Gab had given me some extra tip because I had to work overtime – a little extra in a budget that was already strained.

I had left Alex at home together with Frisk and Chara. They had much to talk about since the later one had possessed the first one – Sans would usually take care of Alex for me but he hadn’t contacted me since earlier today. The pinch in my heart made me shiver worse than a leaf in full storm. I wrapped my arms around me as I tried to push away the empty feeling that was harboring inside of me. He had cut me off – not wanting me to feel his emotions. He had left me alone and confused. I couldn’t really comprehend what had happened. First everything was alright – then everything exploded. Sure, I knew that he wasn’t going to take it all too well that Chara was back. I understood that – she had possessed Frisk and killed Sans before in so many different timelines. I could understand – but could he at least try to understand my point of view too? I had been together with Chara for seven years and she had read my mind and knew my way of thinking. She had changed and she had regretted her choices she had made before.

I wrapped my leather jacket tighter around me before I picked up my phone – nothing. He hadn’t called, text me or anything. This was the end of our relationship. I felt tears run down my chin. Why had I said those things? Why had I been so stubborn? I had ripped Alex from the home he had with my mother and Derek – something he knew and was safe in. I had brought him into something that was uncertain – to somewhere where we weren’t welcomed anymore. I had really done it this time.

Suddenly the atmosphere changed and it became colder in this early night of spring. I was walking on a street just a few block from my job because I had to clear my head. The pavement path was lit by street lights but the majority were damaged. There wasn’t any lights in the windows – everything was black except of the few streetlights that was working. Everything was quiet and nothing moved. I turned around but couldn’t see anything – even though I felt being watched by someone. I swallowed and was about to open up a rift when something suddenly hit my right shoulder and a souring pain was spread through me. I quickly turned around and felt fear for the first time in my life. In front of me was the same guy I had fought weeks before in the park when I came to rescue Frisk. With him was several other people and they all had weapons out – it looked like something that was taken from a movie. Swords, axes, daggers and all of them were glowing with a magical shine that made me realize that is was weapons made to eradicate magic. I put a hand over my shoulder and felt something warm and sticky at my bones. Blood.  I had been hit with something that had drawn blood.

“Hard to get you and your brother alone” the man said and I just watched him. “I’m here for a payback. You took my only sister from me and left me alone!” I smirked at him.

“First come, first serve. I can send you to the same place if you want” my socket began to flare as the other one became black. So many souls – which would I begin with? But first I let a cover fall over us so nothing would become damaged and if people would pass by they wouldn’t see or hear anything. The humans didn’t even flinch when the transparent black film covered us completely – they just continued to stare.

The man let a chuckle out of his chest and it grew larger – more into a hysterical laugh before he stopped.   

“Send me to the same place? Do you realize in what kind of position you’re in? We have you surrounded and we here to take you in” I sneered at him.

“Take me in? Sounds like you’re some kind of police” he just glared at me.

“We just see to so bastards and monster like you don’t break havoc on the world like you once did!” he said and brought out his dagger that had the same shine as the daggers. I let my own magic cover me. This would be though – the wound from last time hadn’t healed completely yet and I was emotional instable.

“I’ll gladly do it again! For every injustice I was put through – I would do it again” the dragons from the void, that had appeared, growled and gathered their energy. _I would do it again – just because I would meet Sans_. The man just looked at me before he smirked.

“Then we have to bring you with us with force – hopefully dead” our eyes met. My red magic swirled around me and threw dark red shadows around me as my clothes and hair moved with the draft of the wind.

“You can try” and the dragons released their energy.


	13. Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Been much with work and thing around my life, and I've got less time to work with this chapter - that's why it has taken so long.  
> But I hope it is to your liking!
> 
> Love you all!  
> Stay awesome!
> 
> PurpleNightSong

Sans was staring out the window and he couldn't focus his pinpricks on anything. Everything moved inside of him. Chara. Frisk. That fucking weed. Sylfaen… her sad and hurt face. Why did he ever open his damn mouth? He didn't even listen to her and she had promised to never let go of his hand ever again. This time he had let go. Abandoned her and leaving her alone with Alex. Frisk had called earlier and told Toriel that they would babysit Alex and Tori hadn't been all too happy about it. She didn't ask Sans anything even though she knew that it was usually he who watched over Alex when Syl was at work. Now he had abandoned the kid too. He let his skull fall into his hands as he dragged a strained breath that he didn't even need. A form of reflex. He was so fucking stupid, but this wasn't his fault only. She hadn't shown him that she could understand what he was feeling about this.  
A rapid knock on the door made him jolt off is the bed.

  
"SANS? ARE YOU IN THERE? CAN I COME IN?" The skeleton sighed. It was just Papyrus.

"Yeah, you can come in, bro'" He answered the question. Papyrus opened up the door and went inside – the room was dark and the only light came from a small nightstand lamp that should have been replaced several years ago. Sans looked at his brother and saw that Papyrus was dressed in a gray collage sweater and a pair of black jeans – it gave him a more mature look. It was almost like looking at Gaster.

"Been on a date, bro?" papyrus nodded and smiled.

"YES, TONTON BROUGHT ME TO THIS FANCY RESTAURANT WHERE WE DINED ON MANY DIFFERENT TYPS OF PASTA – AT LEAST ME, TONTON DON'T EAT"

"That's nice, bro'. I hope that you're happy" Sans said and looked at his brother with love. His little brother wasn't so little anymore even though he wanted to protect him and keep him innocent until he was ready to handle everything on his own.

"I AM, BROTHER. TONTON MAKE ME VERY HAPPY. BUT YOU LOOK – EXCUSE THE SAYING – LIKE SOMEONE EATEN YOU AND SPIT YOU OUT AFTERWARDS. HAVE YOU FOUGHT WITH YOUR SOULMATE?" Sans flinched when he heard Papyrus question.

"How did ya' guess that?" Sans asked. Papyrus gave him a sad smile.

"I KNOW THAT A FEW THINKS THAT I AM QUITE NAÏVE AND DUMB SOMETIMES – TOO SOFT IN THE HEART AREA, BUT YOU ARE MY BROTHER SANS AND I HAVE LIVED WITH YOU FOR SO MANY YEARS. PLUS YOU HAVE THE SAME EXPRESSION AS YOU HAD SEVEN YEARS AGO WHEN FATHER RETURNED AND YOU HAD FOUGHT WITH HER. WHAT HAPPENED THIS TIME?" Sans was reluctant to answer as he knew that he had been acting wrong to some extent.

"We fought over a bad person that had caused much suffering in the past. She completely forgives this person and I wanted to punish her. We fought over that and I called her messed up and -"

"SANS, YOU CAN STOP THERE. I THINK WHAT THE PROBLEM IS. YOU DON'T TRUST HER AT ALL" Sans looked at his brother.

"Of course I trust her, but –"

"NO, YOU DO NOT. SHE LEFT YOU SEVEN YEARS AGO AND EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE OVERJOYED THAT SHE IS BACK YOU STILL DON'T TRUST HER FULLY. NOT HER OR HER CHOICES" Sans gave it a thought and he could understand where his brother was going.

"SHE LEFT ALL OF US BECAUSE SHE HAD TO – NOT BECAUSE SHE WANTED. SHE HURT MANY OF US AND IT IS HARD FOR ALL OF US TO FULLY TRUST HER – BUT SANS, YOU ARE HER SOULMATE. YOU KNOW THE TRUTH AND YOU CAN FEEL IT BUT YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE SOUL. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT HER WHEN THINGS ARE TOUGH" Sans was about open up his mouth when his phone went off. He picked it up from his pocket and looked at the screen. The word ‘Babe' was spelled over it and he swallowed. He hadn't contacted her at all throughout the day and he had shut out her feelings because he was angry and hurt. He looked at Papyrus and his brother just nodded. Sans swiped the answering button to the right and put the phone to where his ear would have been if he had one.

"Babe?" he whispered.

Sans widened his socket. What he was met with wasn't Syl talking or crying. He could hear her scream instead. She was screaming in agony and pain. It sounded as if she was far off and in the background, he could hear the Gaster Blaster's characteristic sounds. Other people screaming to advance – to take the bitch down.

"SYL?! BABE!?" She was fighting. She was fighting alone. He quickly let down the barrier he put up between them, and the emotions from Syl overwhelmed him. Hate, anger, fury, and rage – but most of all – fear.

"SANS,WHAT IS WRONG?" Sans turned his terrified face to his little brother. His sockets were filled with fear.

"She is fighting! Someone is attacking her! We must help her!" Papyrus quickly rose from his seat.

"I WILL GET UNDYNE AND THE REST. YOU GO AHEAD AND FIND HER" Sans nodded and quickly teleported away. When he arrived at the bar he knew she was working at he called Frisk before he started running towards home. It must be on the way home. Frisk answered after the second signal.

"Sans, what is it?"

"Syl's in trouble. You stay home with the kid – protect him at any cost. I think she's being attacked by the same guys as before." Frisk was quite for a while. Then he heard Chara's voice on the phone.

"Hey, comedian, where are ya`?" He gritted his teeth but this wasn't the time to argue.

"I'm on my way to her home from the place she works at. Call Paps' and tell ‘im that. They will come after us" Chara was quite before she spoke.

"I'll send some backup" she said and hung up. Sans quickly put the phone down into his pocket and tried harder to run faster. He had to get to her before it was too late.

* * *

I felt how the pavement on the ground scratched my face and bones when I hit it hard. I quickly rose from my place to avoid another arrow from one of the monster hunters. I gripped around my waist to put pressure on a wound that was bleeding. I had cuts all over my body and they were all bleeding, I panted as I tried to catch my breath when a women appeared behind me with a knife – I dodged and smacked up a fist into her stomach and threw her away with my magic.

"Give up or else you'll die and that will be too bad" sad the man who's sister I had killed. I summoned one of the dragons of the void.

"Never!" I said and the dragon lets out a burst of energy. They easily avoided the beam of energy as I tried to avoid another arrow. My energy to fight was slowly diminishing and I was afraid that I would perish on this battlefield. Flashbacks from the war entered my mind – humans and monster dying in front of me as I tried to save them all.  
The small time I lost focus was enough – an arrow hit right above my collarbone and as I pierced my skin, muscle, and flesh I screamed. I quickly sent a wave of bones flying towards them and I could hear a scream. Someone had been hit and someone was going to die. I tried to focus – finding a soul but there was none there. They were protected from my antigravity magic.

"You should be more careful where you're aiming those" a sudden whisper into my ear and the edge of a knife against my throat. The man had advanced behind me – tricked me to get behind me. My pulse was pumping and my heart was beating like frenzy. I widened my sockets in fear and shock. This was it.

"You son of a –" and then I felt it. Like a heated blade going through butter, another knife slid through my muscles and flesh at my lower back. I didn't feel any pain until he twisted the blade. So much pain was going through my body so I couldn't scream nor move – instead I fell to the ground and felt my lower part disappear. I panicked and tried focus – finding the weave of time to turn it back, but I couldn't find it. I couldn't turn it back. I was too late.  
A death filling fear filled me and I went totally cold. I was going to die. Was going to leave my brother all alone. Sans. We hadn't made up yet – I would leave this world without telling him how much I loved him. How much I cared for him. I found myself hoping that he would find someone else so he could be happy again – someone that deserved him.  
I felt tears gathered as I came to the conclusion – I would leave this world with many regrets.  
The man who was standing above me now just smirked and looked at me with his knives in hand.

"I think I prefer to bring your dead body to the council – it is as my sister would have wanted it" He said as he raised his blades. "Any last words?" I dragged a heavy breath. There was so much I wanted to say but all that came over my lips were:

"See you in hell" He just smiled and let the shining blades fall. I closed my eyes. This was it.  
Then I felt it – a presence that had shut me out this morning, the presence of the one I was supposed to share my life with. He was filled with anger and fear.

"OH HELL NO!" I suddenly heard as someone forced their way through the barrier I had put up to hide us and protect the outside world from the devastation. The man standing above me looked around but as he found the attacker he was forced back with a power greater than anything else I had ever seen. Like a bullet he was pushed back to his comrades that had been standing there, smiling. Now their smirks fell from their faces and they watched as a blue hooded skeleton bent down over me. Sans right socket was black as the other was a raging chaos of blue flames. Tears filled his sockets as they began to run. He touched my face – grazed a cut on my cheek with the distal phalange of his thumb.

"You came" I whispered and he hushed me.

"Save your strength – you ‘gonna need it babe" he said and let his arms slid under my body to pick me up. I could feel the softness of his jacket against my battered face and suddenly my sockets felt heavy. I flinched in pain when Sans touched a wound by mistake. He looked down at me and then at his phalanges covered with the crimson colored liquid. I could feel his emotions inside of me – he was furious. I had seen and felt Sans be angry before but this was nothing like that. He wanted to kill and he wanted to blame someone for this mess.

"Who did this?" He asked with a low dark dangerous voice. Everything was quiet and no one said a word. "I asked: WHO DID THIS?" The last words he yelled out to the gathering standing before us again.

"I did it" It was the voice of the man that pushed the knife into my back. His arm had a weird angel and I guessed that he had broken it when Sans pushed him away from me. Sans locked his sockets at him.

"You just signed your death sentence, pal" Sans said and snarled at him. The man began to laugh.

"A death sentence? Look around you, monster. It's only you and her – and she will die any given moment. Do you really think that you – alone – can take on every one of us?" Sans glared at him.

"Humans like you should burn in hell, you know that pal? I said that you've just signed your death sentence – I'm the Judge, not the executioner" Sans said and I looked up at him. What was he saying? What did he mean?  
The man laughed at Sans' words.

"I should burn in hell? If it hadn't been for your monsters, we wouldn't have this problem with people going to hell. You monsters are beings that God never intended to create – you're all a mistake and the worst sin ever committed –" I saw how someone in the group aimed an arrow towards us. "IS her you're holding in your arms. She is messing with time. A witch and a monster – the skeleton witch. A herald of chaos!" Sans just stood there and watched the man without moving a muscle.

"I will kill her and bring whatever is left of her to the council" he made a motionless move with his uninjured hand and the arrow was released from the bow. I looked in horror as it came closer with its cursed shine. If Sans was hit he would die – he would surely die. I tried to make him move but I didn't have any strength left. I closed my sockets. I didn't want this. I really didn't want this!  
Suddenly a wall of fire was risen in front of us – protecting us from the flying projectile. Its flames made it darker around us and the warmth that was reflected back at us warmed my almost cold body. Sans stood there without a care in the world.

"Sans? What's going on?" He didn't answer me – instead, I felt how he took a tighter grip on me. His emotions inside of him were conflicted, scared, angry and hopeful. His whole being was in chaos but still he was calm. Suddenly the fire was put out and everything went dark.

"W-what's happening?" The human voice echoed in the dark.  
An eerie laughter was heard from somewhere – it reminded me of when Gaster had trapped us in the darkness of that night seven years ago. The laughter faded out and all went quiet. A sudden rumble was heard and felt through the darkness and I could feel how it moved fast. Huge bones pierced the ground from below and moved their way to where the humans were. I watched as I saw how a crimsons red mist covered the ivory as they moved. I felt uneasy by it as a few humans began to scream. They had been hit and was now laying on the ground with limbs torn apart from their bodies.

"I hope you know what you've been getting yourselves into, kids" I heard a dark voice say. "To say that a child, born from the greatest of love, is a sin. Just that in its self is a crime" Suddenly a man was walking into my view – a human man with purple hair and a leather jacket on him. He looked like a Viking – tall and strong was his whole being. Eyes that almost shifted in red. The man from the museum. He had his hand shoved down his pockets and he had a fearful grin plastered on his face.

"Who are you?" one of the humans said when they finally could see the man.

"You tell yourselves that you're warriors of Fate. That you're doing Her bidding but that has never been true" he took out his hand from his pocket and stretched it forward with his fingers spread. "The only one that can judge what's right or wrong is you. Your own decision is what matter and is what forms your fate" The man that had been leading the attack against me took a step forward.

"We'll ask you one more time, who are you? Why are you siding with the monsters?" he laughed.

"You don't have to know my name, kid. You won't live that long so you can say it" The attacker snarled at him.

"Do you think you can oppose us? Or the Council? Do you know what happens to those who does it?" An arrow came flying at him and all he did was standing there.

"SANS, DO SOMETHING?!" But he just stood there with me in his arms – looking at the man in front of us. The arrow was going to hit him straight in the face if he didn't move.Then the arrow stopped – hold back by a violet transparent hand. I widened my sockets. _No_.

"To threaten without waiting for an answer will not bring you any honor" said the person now standing beside the first one. The other one turned around and smiled at him.

"Thanks, W. You got me worried there for a while" he said to the one dressed in black. The man named W just stared back at the humans standing in front of us. What was going on? Who were these people?

"Hey, Crackles, you can come out now. No need to hide – she will get it eventually" the man with violet hair said – and Grillby came into view with his bartender outfit. I looked at Sans. He turned his head away. He knew what was going on and he wasn't telling me at all.

"Sans, who are they?" The man with the almost red eyes turned his head towards me and he had a sad smile.

"I'm sorry sweetie – for everything. You'll soon know. I promise you" he said and turned his around again. "I will just send these ass holes to hell first!" and at that hell broke loose. The three men split up – one fought with bones, another one with hands that he had summoned and the third with fire. Bones wrecked the ground we were standing on. During the whole time Sans was just standing there – protecting me from any humans that could have harmed me. I watched the three men – no other human could touch them and they moved swiftly and without hesitation. They were determined to fight but why?

The man summoned a wall of bones that protected him from some arrows – it was then I saw it. An eye that flamed red with the color of blood. The magic that was stronger than anything I've felt. Ivory colored bones covered by a thin film of red transparent mist. It can't be…

* * *

The fight wasn't fair at all but the guys handled it pretty well – and soon the fight was over. It had been filled with cries and screams of the humans that died. Blood and dead bodies covered the ground.

The only one remaining was the man that had led the attack against Syl. He was caught by W's magic and held steady by the hands he had summoned. He tried to get out of the grip as he struggled like crazy – but he couldn't move an inch from his position. Sans hadn't liked all the blood and every dead body. It reminded him of the hall of judgment when Frisk and Chara had gone berserk. Sans pressed the woman in his arms closer to him even though she was badly hurt. When he had arrived he had almost thought that it had been too late. He wished that Paps or even Tori was here so they could heal her properly but all he could do on his own was keeping her alive with the power of his own magic. He let it slip into her like a stream in spring. If he didn't she would die.  
When had seen her mangled body he had blamed himself. If he hadn't fought with her and listened instead, he would have been babysitting Alex and Syl would have teleported back right after work instead of walking home.  
He himself had wanted to kill the person that done this to her but his priority was to keep her safe – keep her alive. It had been his order to him. Sans glared at the two humans standing there – especially the dark one he had met at the museum.  
Sans had met the on the street right outside this invisible dome and they had explained – they were Chara's back up. Sans couldn't believe it at first until Grillby had shown up and made everything clear. Syl moaned in his arms so Sans turned his skull towards her. Her skin was pale and it seemed as if his magic wasn't giving so much help as had hoped. He had never been good at transferring magic. Suddenly Sans felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up. Grillby was standing beside him, looking down on him. Sans had always wondered how he managed to wear glasses when he didn't have a nose. The warmth from his hand went through his jacket and into his bones.  
"How is she?" his warm voice warmed Sans' numb inside. He sighed.

"She… she's weak… I don't –" He couldn't finish the sentence. Even though she was awake it seemed like she was drifting away. He placed his face in her hair. "Please babe, stay with me…" then he felt it – a warmth creeping into him. Magic. Grillby was giving him magic so he could transfer it to Syl. Sans turned his head up.

"Thanks, my friend…" Grillby just nodded and turned his head towards the men standing in front of the last survivor. Syl's eyes were glued to them, not noticing the new magic transferring over to her – Sans could feel her emotions. She was upset and confused, and he could understand why she was. These two humans were supposed to be dead.

"Ab, you need to hurry if we are to save her" Grillby said. The man with violet hair turned around and watched the small group. His eyes were sad at first before they turned angry. Ab turned around watched the man that was trying to breathe because of the hands around his neck.  
"Who… Who are you?"

"You don't need to know that! You will soon die and have no use of that information!" Ab took a hold of the man's shirt and dragged him closer to him. W pierced the man with cold eyes and laid a hand on Ab's shoulder.

"Ab, you can at least give this piece of an ass hole our names before he dies. He will then know who will torment him when it is our time to enter hell" he said. Ab showed off his teeth to the man hanging in the air in front of him.

"You don't deserve it – but W is right. I am –"

"Ab of MT Ebott. Former Captain of the Royal Guard of King Asgore. Husband to Chartom and father of Araphel, also known as Sylfaen of MT Ebott the Skeleton Witch" Sans turned his head to the woman in his arms. Syl had spoken – she knew whom the man was. She had found out. She turned her head to the other man.

"And you are W.D Gaster. Former Royal Magician and Scientist under King Asgore. Am I wrong?" W turned his head towards the woman and shook his head.

"No, flower. You are correct" he said. The man stared at them.

"Devils work. Demons! No one can return from the other side! It's her doing!" He glared at Syl and she met his gaze. "You have committed a sin no one is allowed to! You have called back the dead! You selfish bit –" and at that, his life ended quickly and swift – his head separated from his body in a swift motion of the dagger Ab had picked up from the ground. His head fell to the ground with the sound of a bag filled with water and rolled away until it stopped. But Syl only had eyes for the man with violet hair. She stared at him with an intensity that would have anyone wet themselves. Ab turned around and wiped away some blood that had stained his face. He carefully watched the woman in Sans arms – studying her like she was a predator ready to strike at any given moment.

"Sans – put me down" she said. Sans looked down at her with uncertainty.

"Are you sure? You're hurt pretty badly and you –"

"Put. Me. Down. Now" she said again and her voice was lower than usually. He didn't resist. He did not have anything to say about this because of everything he had said earlier that day. He followed her with his sockets and he could feel the stirred up emotions. This was not going to end well.

* * *

I felt my heart beat in my chest and in my ears. My ability to move had come back after a few minutes thanks to Sans' and Grillby's magic. Even though I felt how weak I was, all I could see it was them. They were back from the dead. They had mocked me from the beginning. They had talked to me – been with me without telling me a thing. I looked at the man I once had loved to dearly and had promised to bind my soul with. Now when I knew who he was I could see the resemblance from his monster persona. Gaster still looked like a true gentleman even though he was dressed as a thug without a penny to spare. The corner of his lips went upwards in a smirk when his violet eyes met my sockets.

"Flower, we can explain –" he began but I didn't want him to continue.

"Shut. Up. Gaster" I told him off. I turned to the man with violet hair – Ab, my father. My father was alive. He was back from the dead. He had spoken to me without telling me who he was. I tried to contain my wrath. My father looked at me and took a hesitant step towards me before he spoke.

"Araphel, sweetie, listen – " when he called me by my right name I snapped.

"NO! YOU listen to me! You left me and my mother alone! You DIED from us! Now TWO THOUSAND YEARS LATER you decide it was a good time to come back! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH?" As I spoke I felt how tears started to gather in my sockets and they fell like a stream in springtime and my father began to walk towards me with strong secure steps.  
But I didn't care.

"Because of you – my mother tormented me! SHE BEGAN TO HATE ME! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" When he came right in front of me I began to hit him with all the strength I had left – he didn't even budge.

"I'm sorry Araphel" he said and laid his hand on my shoulders. I tried to hit him harder but my strength was slowly draining.

"I'm not Araphel! I'm not your sweetie! I'm Sylfaen!" He grabbed my wrists and held without strength in his huge hands. He looked down into my face with sadness in his eyes. They were as I remembered them – warm and filled with parental love.

"But you are my daughter!" he said to me with a strong voice. I let my head fall to his chest – my forehead resting against his muscles, sending warmth through my skin. "I'm so sorry for what I've caused you..." he said.

"You left me… You left alone with an unstable woman that went nuts after your death. I –" I felt the last of my energy leave me as I fell to the ground. I had lost too much blood and there was only magic keeping me alive at this point. As I fell, two strong arms wrapped themselves around me. It wasn't Sans but my father. He easily picked me up.

"You're badly hurt. You need medical attention, sweetie. Whatever you do – don't fall asleep okay?" Suddenly I felt other emotions inside of me. Sans. He was worried and I turned my head slowly towards him. The skeleton looked into my eyes as he tried to find his words. I didn't know what I felt towards him right now. Everything was too much. The fight. Sans showing up. My father and Gaster alive again. Sans knowing who these two were.

"Babe – "

"I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alo –" coughing interrupted from my throat and chest. A sticky mess was going through my sore throat as it clawed its way out. Blood. I was coughing blood and at the sight of that Sans almost panicked.

"We must get her to Tori!" Sans said as he looked up at Ab. He was confused before Gaster stepped in.

"He means the King's wife. Queen Toriel is very skilled in magic especially healing magic. No one else is better at it" Gaster explained as he went to stand beside Ab's side – putting his hand on my head. Sans snarled at the sight.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" Gaster just raised a brow and smirked.

"To teleport, I need to have contact with the body I have to teleport. I'll take them to the king and queen – you contact Frisk and Chara, tell them that we are on our way" Gaster said and suddenly we were inside the void – where time didn't move as it did outside. Depending on the user – the time could move faster or slower. I suspected that Gaster used it now to put the least amount of stress to the wounds – making the time go faster outside. I started to ache and the pain was becoming real this time. The adrenaline was leaving my body and in its wake – every cut, bruise, broken bone, and wound made it ll too clear they were there.

"It- it hurts…" I tried to say. My father pressed me against him and I felt how magic began to fill me up slowly – making the pain fade away.

"I know sweetie. Hang in there. It will soon be over and after that – we'll talk. About everything" he said and nodded. I started to feel tired and I felt that my eyes began to feel heavy. Slowly my eye sockets closed and somewhere behind them, in the background, I could hear voices talking to me – trying to make me stay awake.  
But it was so warm and I felt at ease. Just for a couple of minutes – just for a short while. After that, I would wake up.

After a short…

While…

* * *

Frisk was sitting in the apartment together with their mother, father, and Alex. Chara was waiting somewhere else for a time where she could show herself to her former parents and Alex was playing in the kitchen. Frisk had their hands in their lap but it was hard to keep them still. Toriel was sitting on the opposite side of the couch together with Asgore as they settled down. They were waiting for the others in their family to show up – Papyrus had called and talked to Asgore and they had explained that Syl was in danger. Sans had called Frisk – telling them that the fight was over but Syl was badly hurt. Ab and Gaster were on their way to Asgore and Toriel that had stayed behind for support.

After the first call from Sans, Chara had told Frisk to flee to their mom – she would be able to protect them if the enemies decided to target Alex. So they had done just that.  
After the second call – Sans had told Frisk that he was coming back to explain for both Asgore and Toriel but he had to call Papyrus first and tell him that the fight was over.  
Everything was so complicated and Frisk suspected that Sans wouldn't be able to explain everything to them.

"What was it you wanted to talk to us about, child?" Tori asked and smiled at Frisk. They didn't know what do begin with.

"Uncle Sans called…" Asgore turned his head towards the child in a new found interest.

"What did he say?" The king of monster asked.

"They found Sylfaen – the attack is over" Toriel's eyes became hard and cold.

"And I suspect that she was the one to end the fight?" the queen said. Frisk shook their head and bit their lip.

"No… she was about to die if Sans hadn't intervened. She is badly hurt and she is on her way here right now, mom. She needs your help" Toriel snorted when she heard that.

"If she can move by herself then she can not be too badly hurt in my opinion" the queen said. Asgore threw his wife a glance. She still hadn't come to terms with the idea that Sylfaen had come back. Frisk bit their lip.

"She isn't coming here alone…" Asgore turned his gaze back to Frisk.

"Is Sans bringing her here?" Frisk shook their head. It was Chara who had told them about Ab and Gaster. Frisk knew that Asgore knew them both.

"No, but a few old friends does it…" Toriel watched them with suspicion but just before she opened up her mouth Sans was standing in the living room with a frantic expression plastered on his skull. He had teleported back to them. He must've called Papyrus and told him what was going on.

"Are they here yet?" He asked Frisk but they just shook their head. Sans quickly looked around.

"For crying out loud! Bring her over here right now! Do you want her to die?!" he shouted. Asgore rose from the seat and looked at Sans.

"Who are you talking to Sans? Where is Syl? What is happening, my friend?" Then it was like everything went quiet – the silence begging for an answer.

"She is here father – we had to take a shortcut, like the comedian over there so she wouldn't die" the voice of the teenager made the two royal monsters to turn around. Toriel put her hands up in front of her mouth.

"It can not be!" she said and tears gathered up in her eyes. Asgore just stood there and watch everything as it slowly was sinking in. His child was back from the dead – she was standing there in their living room. She was older and she was more mature – the same age as Frisk. In her arm, she had a flower pot with a flower in it – Flowey.

"Chara?" he whispered. The child smirked.

"Yes, dad, mom – it's me" At that Toriel threw herself towards the child and pressed her to her fluffy chest.

"My dear, dear child" the queen cried as she hugged her adoptive daughter. Frisk felt a bit jealous about the whole thing but she knew that their mother loved them deep too – it was just that that Chara had been dead for so many years, or so they thought. Sans was quickly by Syl's side and tried to get some contact with her but she didn't respond to his calls.

Asgore had joined them in the embracing of the human child. The joy was hard to miss in this reunion.  
Then Asgore heard how someone cleared their throat so he turned to the two humans standing behind Chara. One of them held a badly hurt Syl in his arms. Blood was dripping down on the carpet and Syl wasn't awake. The man holding her had violet hair and tears was streaming down his face. When he turned his gaze towards the king – Asgore saw a pair of red eyes. Sans was standing beside him and tried to wake Syl up with whispers and mumbling to no use.

"Please… my king. Save her – she's badly hurt and she needs medical attention. I've heard that your wife – the queen, is skilled in healing magic. Please – save… save her" Asgore looked at the man and before he turned to Toriel. The queen met her king's gaze and she didn't say anything.

"Tori, can you heal her?" The queen watched from Asgore to the man and then at Syl.

"That I can do as it seems that she is dear to both of you – see it as thanks for bringing my daughter back" The man with violet hair shook his head.

"It isn't us you should give your thanks to, my queen. You should give them to my daughter once she wakes up" he said. Toriel widened her eyes and looked at Asgore. The king with his blond hair and beard was calm and a soft smile spread over his face.

"Ab, it is you – is it not?" The man nodded.

"Yes, my king – but please! She needs to be saved or else she will die. I will explain everything later" The king nodded and turned to Toriel.

"Take our bedroom and do the best you can Tori" The queen let go of Chara and rose from the floor. She was majestic and proud. She nodded at Asgore and went to Ab.  
When Toriel picked the woman up into her arms she felt how much weight she had lost and how much human skin had vanished from her face. Toriel felt a sting of guilt. No one would ever expose themselves to that danger of turning back time if the price was this – if not someone was using them. She pressed the light body to her own – to make a connection so she could transfer some magic to her.

"I will do my best, but I can not guarantee any outcome" she said. Ab nodded and saw how Toriel walked away to what seemed to the king and queen's bedroom.  
When Toriel closed the door, she also shut out the confusion that had arisen. Now everything was focused on the half human woman and if she would make it.  
Toriel laid her down on the bed and stroke her purple hair. 

"My dear, child. Thank you… for whatever you have done" the queen whispered before she went to work on the damage that had been done.

* * *

_I watched the man standing in front of me. His white hair was shining in like crystals in the light of the moon and ice blue eyes penetrated my soul and my heart. It rushed like a wild horse. How long had I known this man? His strong cheek had a shadow of a beard that he hadn't shaved this morning. His fingers were strong but gentle against my chin. How had he come so close to me? How did he make me tremble like this? Why did he care about me – a half-breed? A mix between monster and humans?_

_"_ _Why are you here, Sans? Why do you care? I thought you said that you hated me?" His eyes became sad when he looked down on me._

_"I just can't stand it when you're with him. Every time he touches you, every time he looks at you. I just can't –" I tried to push him away from me in anger. He had called me names, been mean and said all those words. I didn't want to be my friend – why should he care now?_

_"I don't see why you're concerned about it! First, you wish me dead! Then you take me back! Then you wish that you never knew me! If you can't make up your mind then I will make it up for you! Leave me alo –" A sudden burst of irritated feelings went through me and I gasped for air when I felt them. I wasn't irritated, I was hurt and sad but not irritated. Sans took a grip of my wrists and forced me to look at him._

_"It IS of my concern! For fuck sake, Syl! Don't you see that I care about you? Even though I'm mad at you, even though I feel betrayed or hurt by your actions – the only one I can think about is you!" I stared at him as his words were sinking in._

_"You chose a quite unique way of showing that you care" I said dryly to him. Sans let out an irritated sigh. He let go of my wrists and let both his hands run through that white hair of his._

_"I know but you gave me a shock when it was my father that came out of the void… I don't want you to be with him. He's an asshole and doesn't care about anyone but himself" Sans said and let his hands fall to his sides. He looked defeated._

_"Sans – he is the one that I fell in love with and promised to be with until the day I die. What you two have been through has nothing to do with –"_

_"I love you Syl" his words interrupted my speech and I stood there with an open mouth in the night where the moon was shining brightly above us. My violet hair moved slowly in the breeze and all I could do was look at Sans standing there with a slight blush on his face. What had he said? Love? Me? How could that even be? Everything he had said to me during these months I'd lived with our friends had shown me the opposite._

_"You're lying…" I said and put a hand up in front of my mouth as tears gathered in my eye and socket. "Why do you lie to me, Sans? Why do you –" His arms wrapped around me and pressed me to his strong and muscular body. Inside I could feel his heart pound and inside me was nervous emotions that weren't mine. I couldn't move out of his hold._

_"I'm not lying. I love you and I can't stand it when you're with Gaster. I'm a jealous kind of guy" he whispered and I felt how he pressed his lips against my head before he turned my face up towards him. I felt the warmth of his breath against my lips. His lips were half closed._

_"I love you more than I could ever imagine. Everything can think of you – what you do, what you're thinking, whom you're with. I'm sorry for everything I've done – but please believe me when I say that I love you…" after his last word he closed the gap between us._

_His lips were demanding but soft as they met mine – and in an instant, my resolution to push him away from me vanished as I got a hold of his shirt. My knees were weak and my heart was pounding hard inside my chest._

_There in the moonlight I was kissed by a man that was my lover's son – a man that I thought hated me and resented me. Instead, he kissed me fireclay but still shyly._  
_It was then I knew._  
_I loved him too._  
_~_  
_"We will not let you continue this!" I roared at the magician that was standing in front of Sans and I. She was standing on her knees as she just smirked with blood running down her cheek from her mouth. We had won – we had defeated her. We would soon go home with whatever was left of our family. I summoned a sharpened bone in my hand as I stood there watching her. Sans threw me a glance and then let a hand rest on my wrist._

_"Syl, babe, she is defeated. You don't have to do it anymore" he said even though I could feel his upset emotions ravage inside of me. He had lost his brother but he wanted to have his sanity left so he could be with me. His ice blue eyes were filled with hate and a craving for revenge. I glared at him._

_"She killed them all! She left us alone – just you, me, Frisk and Chara remains! She killed your brother! She… she deserves to die!" I took a harder grip of the bone in my hand and I could feel and hear the bones in my hand scratch against the surface of the ivory. Sans sighed as he still held the woman down with his magic. She was unable to move and use her powers until we had decided what to do with her._

_"Killing her won't bring them back, babe. Too much blood and dust have been spread around these halls made out of stone. Even though I want justice for my brother, but – Papyrus wouldn't want this. Not Toriel nor Asgore. No one – not even Undyne or Alphys…" Sans trembled a bit on his voice. He tried to hold his feelings in check but it was hard for him when he uttered the names of the family members he would never see again. I dropped the bone in my hand and sighed deeply. Sans was right – killing her would not bring them back and I would not feel good after this anyway. But it hurt like hell – I would never see their faces or their smiles ever again. Sans felt the change in my emotions and he let go of my wrist._

_"I will seal her magic away so she won't do anything to us. She will never hurt out family again!" I said with a hoarse voice. Sans nodded and for the first time during this battle, I saw fear in the magician's eyes. She trembled and she feared what was coming._  
_I took a position a few feet away from her as I started to concentrate on channeling what was left of my monster as well as my human magic._

_"Please, don't – my magic is my all! I will die without it!" she said in a panic. I just smirked at her._

_"Then I hope you'll die slowly" I said to her as I started to utter the words that would seal her._  
_But something happened – suddenly Sans blue magic vanished from her body and she could once again move without any restraint. She felt it and before I knew it – a projectile of ice came rushing towards me. I widened my sockets. I couldn't move away because I would die if I stopped chanting and if I didn't move I would die. I felt the blood vanish from my face as I saw the ice come closer._

_In the corner of my socket I saw something cyan blue move and soon Sans was standing in front of me – protecting me. I released the spell that captured the woman in its chain – binding her magic to me. But it was too late._

_"NO!" I screamed as I saw the icicle go through him – blood from him stained my face. I ran to him as he fell. I caught him in the fall as we fell to the ground. I quickly turned him around to lay his head in my knee. His pale face and empty eyes told me he was already gone. He was dead before he fell. A gaping hole was staring back at me from his chest – blood running out of the wound, coloring my jeans purple. I felt empty – my soul was alone, not connected to him anymore. Tears streamed down my face._

_"Sans? Sans please, this isn't funny anymore. Please honey, breath for me okay?" But I didn't get any response from him at all. I caressed his cheek that he hadn't shaved this morning. He wasn't responding to the touch a tall. I felt my magic erupt from me like winds from a storm. My tears landed on his face as the magic rose in strength._

_"Now you're all alone" the magician said as the stone walls started to crumble and debris falling from the ceiling. I turned my head towards her and I screamed out my agony towards her. I called out the pain that I felt inside._

_Magic gathered around me – light and energy from all my friends and family filled me up. I knew I wouldn't get out of this alive and I didn't want to either._

_"I'm never alone!" I said as I released the energy and the ceiling caved in. Everything went black for me and the pain was no more._


	14. Explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi you guys!   
> Sorry for the delay of this chapter but it has been a challenging time for me now. I have graded some papers, become sick and a friend to my husband-to-be has sadly passed away. It has been a lot lately and that has affected my work too. 
> 
> Another thing that has affected me is that my muse don't want to collaborate with me right now, plus, I don't have any music to write to. This will probably be the last chapter of this year - but be not afraid I will post a chapter after the new year. 
> 
> Thank you WolfAlphys for reading and commenting in the previous chapter :D
> 
> I love you all!  
> Stay awesome!
> 
> PurpleNightSong

Sans was standing outside on the balcony with a bottle of ketchup in his hand – leaning against the rail that kept him from falling down to the pavement. It was early in the morning and the sun was on its way up and the majority of his family was already sleeping after the night before. Alex was sleeping in the same room as Frisk and Chara, and they had been able to keep his sister’s condition a secret. Asgore and Toriel were sharing Papyrus room while he slept on the couch. Gaster and Ab shared Sans’ space even though it was messy. Sans, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep at all. The one he didn’t want to sleep, was still in a deep slumber that no one could wake her from – but she hadn’t fallen down, she was just resting. She had been so badly hurt and Toriel had had a hard time healing her. Something inside Syl’s body prevented Toriel to fully heal her and it meant that she couldn’t close the bigger wounds she had, completely. When Sans had seen her, Syl had had bandages all over her body, the bones that were exposed to the light was damaged and Toriel said she would have scars all over her body for the rest of her life.

Sans felt guilty – if he hadn’t fought with her earlier, she wouldn’t be in this state. It was all his fault.

He sighed as if he didn’t have enough to blame himself for – his and Syl’s father had appeared. Monsters they thought to be dead since a long time ago – especially Ab, who had existed on the earth over two thousand years ago.

“Are you alright there, um… Sans was it?” The small skeleton turned around and saw the human with violet hair. His eyes were red and they sent out a feeling of being worried. Sans didn’t know how he should act towards the man that was supposed to be his father-in-law. Sans scratched the back of his head while he tried to find an answer. Ab let the right corner of his lips face upwards in a smirk as he found the smaller skeleton’s nervousness a bit funny.

“Uhm.. yeah, that’s right…” Sans said. “And not too well I suppose…” Ab nodded at that. He could understand Sans feelings right now – even though they experienced them in different ways. Syl was Ab’s daughter and Sans soulmate.

Ab went up beside Sans and looked out over the city that was filled with lights and people in this early morning. Even though the majority was asleep, there was always people that had other things going on in their lives. They went on with it as if nothing had ever happened – as if the Skeleton Witch that had altered the reality countless times, hadn’t been fighting for her life just hours ago.

Sans glanced over to the other man beside him.

“How’re ya’ holding up, buddy?” He asked and Ab sighed – letting the breath he had been holding, out into the open as it showed in the mist of his exhale.

“Not so good – my reunion with my daughter wasn’t what I had expected from the beginning. I had great plans to reveal it to her but as always, it didn’t go as planned. Her mother always said that I was a man of big dreams. It led to great things, but also to my downfall” he said as he tried to focus his eyes on something as his memories drifted off to a place and time that was no longer present. Sans looked at him before he asked:

“How was Syl when she was younger?” A smile appeared on Ab’s face as he let the memories flood him. He closed his eyes.

“Adorable. Even though she was born during a dark night under a blood moon, she was always a little sunshine. Not a care in the world and loved both me and my wife. We loved her too – she was the evidence of our love and that monsters and humans could live together as partners. She was my greatest accomplishment…” He said and as the memory of his young daughter came to him – a clear difference between the one that was now resting in the king and queen’s chamber.

“Long violet hair. Round cheeks. Eyes and smile that resembled both me and her mother. A perfect combination of halves between human and monster. Easy to smile and to laugh – loved every living thing in the world. She often brought wounded animals home for her mother to save – which annoyed Chartom sometimes, but she couldn’t help it. She often gave in to the little one in the end. And me? Me she had wrapped around her little finger since the day she was born…” His voice trailed off and Sans felt how he envied the older man beside him. To see her grow up, to see her live and be joyful. Sans sighed and tried to get a hold of his thoughts as Ab turned to him.

“How was she when she came out of the cave?” He asked with a hoarse voice – as if the answer would pain him. Sans closed his sockets as he tried to remember.

“She was… filled with hate, rage, and distrust for both humans and monsters. She didn’t trust any of us – except for Frisk. She wasn’t close to anyone and her way of say and do things made me cautious against her. I had so many memories of other timelines where we had died and I couldn’t believe that this one would continue. Adding another person into the mix of our family would mean the greater pain if the timeline would reset again” Sans paused as he remembered. “Then the night when Frisk was kidnapped and Syl revealed to us who she was – she was afraid. She showed us how vulnerable she was and that she too had emotions like the rest of us. She told us her story – how you had died when she was young, how her mother at first had run away to protect her but later to punish her… how she fell in love, traveled, returned, was- was used by the prince and how she was sentenced to be imprisoned underground with the rest of us. How she was forced to be chained… It was then I could understand why she had been so hateful. I could understand the feeling of something being stolen from you – a future that none of us would have…” Sans stuttered when he tried to talk about the rape – how the human prince had forced himself upon her, but what came next troubled him too.

“When I thought that we finally had come to some sort of understanding – and I slowly started to feel something for her… Gaster came back from the void… I was so angry with her. I felt so betrayed. As if everything we had worked for was for nothing… it shocked me greatly and we fought… It ended badly… After that I hated her or rather tried to – but I couldn’t. I felt feelings inside of me that I didn’t recognize at all. I tried to forget about her, make her vanish from my mind – but I couldn’t… Then I saw her die before me. I – I couldn’t – I didn’t want to –“ Sans voice broke. He couldn’t say it. He didn’t want to tell utter the words: that he didn’t want to live without her.

He put his hand up in front of his face to cover his devastated face – he didn’t want to show his tears.

Ab studied the other monster before he put his hand on the other man’s shoulder.

“I think Araphel’s mother thought the same thing when I died. For monsters, there is some relief in the form of falling down where we can follow our loved one, but humans don’t have that defense mechanism – they are forced to live on by themselves or take their own life. Chartom didn’t have that choice, though… I left her with the whole responsibility to foster our daughter alone. Sans, for you to fall down, to be ready to follow my daughter into death, is brave and a sign that you really love her. I thank you for meeting her and love her. Showing her that life is worth living…” Sans turned his head up towards the man.

“And I thank you for her existent…” Ab smiled and the two men stood there in silence for the rest of the night.

-

_I was standing in the Hall of Judgement. Outside the huge windows, birds were singing and particles of dust swirled in the sunlight that fell through them. I had been here before – many times with Gaster as his lady at the court. It was so many years ago so the memories of those moments had become foggy and the recollection of them was clear anymore. My last time I was here had been when I fought my family seven years ago – when I tried to cut the band I had to them. My mind wandered off along the trail of memories: seven years alone, my mother, Alexander, Derek, Rick… It had been a long time since ever thought of Rick. It made me sad and I was feeling down. I let go of the blond man and kept going. The reunion, Sans, Frisk, Chara, Gaster, my father… a sudden headache made its way through me and I couldn’t understand. There was so many things – so many things unsolved and so many things that piled up on mu shoulders. Why were my father back? Why did the guild of monster hunters and magicians hunt me and my brother? Why did I have all these dreams about other realities? How did Grillby fit into this? Why had Chara picked up Flowey?_

_“Poor thing. All those questions and no one to answer them” a woman’s voice echoed through the hall and I turned around. In the sunlight was a figure shrouded in a piece of yellow fabric and under it I could see a blue dress – but nothing more. This human? Monster? Just stood there with a round orb that emitted a soft light. She held her hands just a few inches from it._

_“Who are you?” I asked. She gave away a soft and clean chuckle._

_“I am who I am and I am what everyone strives for in the end,” she said. It didn’t make any sense to me._

_“What we all strives for in the end?” I asked and she nodded._

_“During our lifetime we are born, we live and we die – but without a meaning or a purpose, there is no meaning to our existence. That is why I exist – I give humans and monsters a meaning for their existent” she said and I just looked at her._

_“You’re Fate…” I said and woman in front of me nodded slowly as she slowly moved her hands around the orb._

_“I am Fate. I make the fates over every living thing in this world – I have done it many times. Much more than you have turned it back. I have redone so many fates because of you, because of the ability you have” she said and I could see pictures of people flicker through the orb. “I decide the fates over every living creature in this world and in others too” I watched her as I tried to focus._

_“Why are you here? Why are there people hunting me? Why are they after me?” Her hands made a halt._

_“That I cannot tell you, my child… I am here with a warning for you, though”_

_“What is the warning?” I asked. She slowly turned her head up where a pair of green eyes showed glowing in the darkness of the fabric. I trembled when I met the gaze._

_“You will die if you turn the time back once more”_

_I felt the world under my feet open up when she said that. Everything became dark around me as the Hall of Judgment fell around me into pieces._

_“I will die…” She nodded._

_“I have seen it in many other timelines. You will die if you turn it again. Your fate is something other than death – it is much greater than the darkness on the other side of life” she said. I laid my hand on my chest where my heart throbbed so I hurt._

_“What are my fate then?” I asked. She shook her head with a sad motion._

_“I cannot tell you yet, my child. You will see it in the end – but you have to be careful. Talk with your father and to Gaster. They know what is happening around you – I cannot interfere more than I have already done” she said and at that, she began to fade away. “But remember this when the time comes – you always have a choice” and then everything faded away._

_~_

_Fate saw how the mind of the woman was swept away to the reality she belonged to. The hardships and tests she was about face were greater than anything else in this world. She had seen them so many time before – would she make it?_

_A sudden memory swept through her – yellow irises on a black background that flickered with emotions before they were blown out like a candle in the wind. Black leather and ivory made a contrast – a smug grin. A cigarette in the corner of the mouth._

_Fate lifted her hand to her face and touched her chin – for the first time in many years she shed tears for a time that was long gone._

-

Ab was sitting on the couch together with Gaster beside him. In front of them were everyone in the inner circle of the royal family – except for one. The human male with violet hair had a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hands and he could feel the heat through the material that contained the liquid inside. He tried to focus his feelings on the task at hands – telling them all about him. The only people that really knew him was either dead or sitting in this room. Grillby was there too – as an old friend and companion. He raised his head and met a pair of red and yellow eyes. They belonged to a blue fish monster known as Undyne and beside her, she had a yellow lizard and Sans’ brother Papyrus. Ab knew that the woman sitting in the black tank-top and the crimson red hair had been the last Captain of the Royal Guard. He let the corner of his mouth face upwards – here they were, the predecessor and the successor. Asgore was still and quiet and so was Toriel. Between the two, the two teenagers were sitting with the flower pot in Chara’s lap. Sans was standing in the doorway as he tried to ignore the man that was his father.

The king of monsters cleared his throat before he spoke.

“Ab, I think the best way to start this is if you start from the beginning,” Asgore said to his old friend. Ab nodded. He knew that all too well. He had to tell them about everything he had been through before he died – before he left his wife and child alone in this cold world. He sighed as he glanced over to Grillby. The flame monster just nodded as he pushed his glass’ further up on a non-existing nose. This would be hard for his old friends too. He sighed as he let his elbow rest against his kneecaps as his hands were wrapped around his neck.

“I don’t know how much you all know about me or who I am. I don’t know if my daughter has told you much about me…” The fish woman, Undyne, leaned forward as her eye was focused on him.

“She told us her father was a former Captain of the Royal Guard and that he left that position to be with the woman he loved – that pretty much it, except you dying of course,” she said as an eager look on her face appeared. Ab recognized that one – that of the one that wants to test their strength, show their worth.

“I was born over two thousand years ago in the capital of the monsters. My mother and father were both part of the court. They both died before I had a chance to find my soulmate. My life was filled with enjoyment and laughter. I befriended the prince of monsters, another monster from a noble family and a distant relative of mine too” he said and saw Sans’ pinpricks go to the pale man sitting next to Ab.

“What happened with those friends?” Undyne asked and Ab just smirked at her.

“The prince became a king, the distant relative became a magician and the one from the noble family became a bartender. Two of us are supposed to be dead” he said and at that the jaw was dropped off everyone in the room. They turned to Asgore and Grillby as the two monsters just gave them a glance.

“We grew up together and we – Sans, what is the matter?” Asgore began but Sans was staring out into nothingness – as if he was feeling something. Chara put a hand on her father’s arm as she looked up to his furry face. She was quiet before she spoke to the man she had been adopted by.

“She has awakened” everyone was quite. They knew whom it was. Sans was the first one out of the room and Ab wanted nothing more than to follow him, but it had to be another time. Ab suspected that his daughter would be upset and afraid after what she had been through. He knew that he would be – and he had been.

-

I opened up my sockets and blinked a few times. The room was filled with a darker shade of sunlight, the source emitting from the window that had its curtains pulled in front of it. The colors of the room went from purple to yellow – the colors of the royals. I was inside Asgore and Tori's bedroom. I tried to rise from the bed but all I could manage was to come up to a sitting position. My whole body ached and I felt how sore I was in my muscles. I looked down and felt how blood drained from my face. I was covered in bandages and on my arms, I could see how my bones in my arms had lost some bits and pieces, my skin was bruised and I could feel how minor wounds stung. I looked down at a wound that seemed almost healed – only that was frightening. I had never had a problem with healing, usually, I was able to be healed within a couple of hours after the damage – thanks to my monster heritage. Now, on the other hand, even small cuts and bruises were difficult to handle. 

Memories from the day before rushed my mind – magic surrounding me, screams, blood, pain, and anxiety. Sans coming to my rescue and then… The image of my father came up into my mind. His eyes, his way of talking, and the way he looked. Everything came rushing down on me and then, the memories from the dream. How I met Fate in the Hall of Judgement of my dreams. She had given me more questions than answers and all she gave me was fear a future I didn’t have a clue on. There had been a few times in my life that I had felt fear – and this was one of those times. I was hunted, I had dreams about other realities I hadn’t lived, people from the dead was back and… if I ever turned the time back ever again I would die. A chill went down my spine and I started to tremble, I wrapped my arms around my body in a try to keep some warmth.

Death. Eternal darkness. Before, when I had been filled with hate and been imprisoned in that cave for over two thousand years – I had longed for it. Now, I suddenly feared it with my whole heart and soul. If I died I would never see Frisk, Alphys, Undyne, Asgore, Papyrus or Toriel again. I would never see, feel or sense Sans ever again. I wouldn’t see anyone ever again.

Suddenly someone kicked the door opened with such force that it almost made me deaf when it hit the wall. I turned my head towards it and there was Sans. He was standing there in a black hoodie, his sockets black and sweat drops running down his skull. He was breathing hard as if he had been running. As his shoulders moved up and down with every breath, his whole being screaming anxiety. Fear, hope love, anticipation was a few of the feelings I could sense from him as he was standing there.

“Sans –“ but I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t say a single word. I was shaking and I felt tears running down my face. Sans pinpricks came back into his sockets and he gave me a devastated look. I tried to squeeze out some words but I couldn’t because there was something blocking them in my throat.

“Oh, babe…” he whispered with a hoarse voice when he saw me.  But what he saw I would never know completely, I would never know how he perceived the image of me. He quickly teleported to my side at the bed and carefully wrapped his arms around me. I could feel the bones in his arms as he pressed me gently to him, carefully not to hurt me.

If I died – I would never feel Sans’ arms around me, I would never see him again, I would never feel his emotions inside of me again and he would be alone inside his soul. I didn’t want him to be like that again. I felt a heavier stream of tears gathering in my sockets.

“Sans –“ and then I broke down and cried into his chest. He hushed and rocked me back and forth as I cried.

“I don’t want to die…” Sans’ rocking came to a stop and his hold became harder when he heard me utter those words.

“What are you saying? You won´t die – I will never allow you to die” he said and his voice cracked as if he never wanted to think about things like that. “I would never –“ his voice stopped. I let my hand rest against his chest, phalanges gripping the fabric of the black hoodie.

“Can you promise me something then?” I asked him as my tears slowly faded away. He took a hold of my hand so our fingers became intertwined.

“Anything – tell me and I will do anything” he whispered and I could feel something wet on my hand. He was crying. It wasn’t often he did so – but when he did it was because what he felt was true. He was afraid that I would die.

“See to it so I never have to turn the time back again” Sans stopped his breathing and I could feel his emotions swirl inside. He was worried and deep inside he realized what I meant.

“You mean –“

“If she turns the time back again – she will die. Her magical resources are fading” We turned our heads and saw Gaster’s human figure in the doorway. He was leaning against the frame and had his arms crossed over his broad chest. If had been human from the beginning he would have been a real killer. At my thought, Sans’ mood became a bit sour – but he knew what kind of relationship I had had with Gaster before I ever knew or considered Sans as a partner.

“How do you know that?” Sans asked in defiance as if he didn’t believe his father’s words. Gaster sighed and let his left hand massage his temple as if he had a headache.

“Look at her Sans – do you really believe she would look like this if the time magic didn’t take anything in return? This is your fault” Sans’ pinpricks left his sockets when the accusation hit him, and I felt guilt run through me before I was cut out from his emotions.

“Gaster…” I said and tried to catch his attention. He turned his head towards me and his whole expression told me that he felt grief and sorrow before he returned his face to his son again

“Flower, you must understand. He promised me to take care of you and protect you, but he failed to keep you safe for the second time. If he had done his job right from the start you would not have been captured or needed to fight us and thus in the end, not needed to risk your life turning the time back” he said and I could feel Sans tremble under my hands. I felt sorrow inside of me.

“If you had not –“

“Wingdings, that’s enough,” a low voice said and I saw how my own father came up behind Gaster. The man was taller than the scientist and his eyes were cold. The man with black hair watched his friend.

“Ab, understand this that if –“

“If you had done your job right from the start. Standing up for her against Asgore from the beginning– nothing of this would have happened. I don’t blame you for what happened – but you can’t put the whole blame on your son. You put her under those chains and you created Sans and Papyrus. Don’t you think that’s a bit hypocritical of you to blame your son for what happened?” Gaster clenched his hands into fists and he hit the frame of the door before he walked out in anger.

“Gaster!” I yelled after him but he didn’t answer. I felt my heart each for him as his frame vanished from the open door. I had to talk to him at some point about what happened in the Hall of Judgement. Ab sighed and closed his eyes tried to collect his thoughts before he turned his head towards me and Sans again.

“I’m so sorry for Gaster’s outburst – but all this has taken his toll on him. Not a single day went on without him wondering about your wellbeing. Even in death, he kept loving you…” the man said to me and I nodded. I knew that because it was his love for me that had made him let go of me in the end. Sans ethereal light returned to his void filled sockets and he glanced over to Ab and then back to me.

My father, on the other hand, watched me as if I was a fragile relic that would crack under the pressure of a single piece of dust. Our eyes met and all I could see was sadness inside of them – but they never averted their way from mine. Even though they were sad they showed me both love and care.

“Father,” I said and it was as if something left him when I opened my mouth. As if a heavy burden had been lifted.

“Araphel – “ I flinched when he uttered my old name they had given me when I was born. I hated it because it had been used during the time my mother and Derek held me captive.

“Sylfaen” I interrupted him. He looked confused and tried to process what I was saying.

“What?”

“My name, it’s Sylfaen. Not Araphel…” I said and felt Sans trembled in my arms. The name had a hideous meaning for him too. For Sans, it meant a time he couldn’t access nor take a part of. “I hate that name,” I said again and something flashed passed his face – an expression of sadness.

“I… I understand” we became quiet. Even though I had mixed feelings about him returning from the dead, about my dreams and meeting with Fate – I had to talk to him. To sort things out. I looked at Sans and I knew that this conversation I was about to have was something I had to do alone. I gently put mu skeletal hand on his cheek. His pinpricks returned and they mine.

“Sans, could you go and keep Alex company? I think he needs some comfort. When bad things happen, he turns himself inwards and he trusts you. Please go and distract him for me?” I asked and Sans facial expression became soft when he heard my voice and felt my feelings. It put him at ease that I was going to be okay. He nodded and bent down to kiss me. His teeth just gently grazing my forehead before he had teleported from my arms. Now it was just me and my father left in the bedchamber of the royals.

My father stepped completely inside and closed the door after him. He walked to my bedside, but before that he took a chair that had been standing against the wall. He placed it besides the huge bed and sat down. The whole time I followed him with my sockets and my pinpricks became smaller as he came closer. He leaned his elbows on the knees and he sighed.

“I’m sorry, dear for leaving you in your early years… I never wanted to”

“Why did you leave us? Why did you get killed? I thought that you were strong” he sighed when I asked all those questions.

“I – I was defending what I believed in; that everyone had something good to them – but I was wrong. I was so wrong about it…”

“You left me alone with my mother and her grief. If you hadn’t died, if you hadn’t vanished from our lives. Mother would never have – you left me to suffer alone!” He looked like something hurt him greatly for every word I stated.

“It was never my intentions, dear! All I wanted was to do what was best for you!”

“Oh! So to go and die was the best choice you think?”

“I wanted a better world for you to grow up in” His desperate eyes locked to my pinpricks. “All I wanted was to have a peaceful world – a world that accepted everyone. I wanted to see you grow up, to fall in love, to find your soulmate, for you to get children one day…” He became quite and I saw how his hands trembled with emotions. He was trying to collect himself and find his words again. “What happened to you and your mother?” he silently asked me after a short while. His voice sounding like he was afraid of the answer. I sighed at his request of an answer – I didn’t want to remember anything from that time, but who was I to deny him an answer?

“When you died, my mother, she ran away with me to get away from the humans that killed you. A few years passed and my mother never recovered from the grief. She began to hate me and say things like it was my fault that you died. She blamed me for your death. If I hadn’t been born, people wouldn’t have gotten so scared of what humans and monster could make together…” my voice trembled when I spoke. My father hesitated before he reached for my hand and held it in his own. It was bigger than mine and I remembered when he had held it when I was smaller.

“I’m sorry for everything I’ve caused you, but understand this – your mother was so proud the night you were born. Deep down she loved you even though she did all that – “

“She hit me, pained me, told me that I was forbidden to use magic. A few years later I met Gaster and he learned me about magic – the kind you was using…” My father took a deep breath as he tried to focus on his words that he would utter.

“That’s because Wingding is a distant relative – we grew up together” I went quiet and looked at him.

“We’re related?”

“Very far apart – but still. W comes from a rich family and so do I. his parents died early due to a human sickness that ravaged through the monster community. W was the only survivor of the family. Your grandmother and grandfather took him in as their own son and fostered him to be my brother. Your grandfather taught us magic but in the end he focused only on W because he was more talented than I was. I was more focused on taking over the role as the Captain of the Royal Guard after your grandmother”

“Grandmother was the Captain of the Royal Guard?” I asked my father I wonder. He smiled and patted my hand.

“Yes, and your grandfather was the Royal Magician” my jaw dropped. My family was filled with people that had had high positions in the monster community.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? Why didn’t Gaster say something?”

“Because I asked him not to tell you anything if he ever was to meet with you in the future.” My father said. “Because if any other monster or human knew that I and your mother had a child together it would wreak havoc amongst many. Only Asgore, Grillby, and Gaster could know about whom you were. There was a chance that you would be hunted otherwise and you wouldn’t be able to-“ he stopped at that. He didn’t want to say the last words.

“You mean that all that secrecy was for my safety alone?”

“I was afraid that they would use you… Gaster promised to keep an eye out for you if something ever happened…”

“He did watch me alright,” I said and my father looked rather displeased.

“You don’t have to rub it in, sweetie. When I told him to watch you, I didn’t mean ‘fall in love with her’” he sighed. “What happened after you two ran away – after Chartom had started to go ‘mad’?” My father was resilient to use that word on the woman I knew that he still loved deep down in his resurrected soul. When he asked the question, though, memories flooded my mind and I opened up my lips to let my tongue reveal the horrors I had been through; the rape, the war, the captivity, the barrier and the imprisonment. He didn’t say a single word – he just listened and for every word I uttered I could see that pained expression on his face grew stronger and stronger.

A sudden faint knock – like the hand of a ghost – was heard through the room as I ended my story. We both turned our heads towards the barrier that shielded us from prying ears and Alex's head popped into view when the door slowly opened. He looked worried and scared and studied my father with eyes that told him that he didn’t trust the older man. He was nervous – afraid even.

“Sis… Are you okay? Uncle Sans said that you weren't feeling well…” I gave him a soft smile and reached for him. He looked at me with frightened eyes when he saw all the bandages. I felt a jolting pain in my arms as I tried to focus on my little brother.

“I’m okay champ. Come here, there is someone I want you to meet” My brother was cautious but he moved slowly towards me before he moved his small body to me and climbed up the bed. When he had settled down in my life, I kissed his red hair and he hides under my chin.

“Who is that man?” my brother mumbled into the fabric of my shirt and I smiled at him. I met my father’s eyes and I saw that he was curious on this little boy.

“This man is very important to me Alexander. He and mother are the very reason I exist and can be your sister” My brother turned his head up towards me. “He’s my father”. Alex’ eyes widened and he glanced over to the man sitting beside the bed.

“I thought your father was dead” his tiny voice came out. I stroke the red hair and kissed it once more.

“He was but he came back to save me from the bad guys”

“He doesn’t look like your father. You told me that he was a monster” Both me and my father chuckled at how that came out.

“Hey kid, if you don’t believe me – look at this,” My father said and I saw how his appearance slowly changed. His skin faded out the white and soon bones were seen, his beard vanished and so did his hair. His eyes were replaced with void filled sockets with red ethereal lights in them. His eternal smile reminded me a bit of Papyrus’ but this man had a much stronger jaw. His shoulders were broad and the fabric started to hang loosely on the bones. This was my father – the man I had adored once and loved deeply only a child could.

My brother widened up his eyes at the sight in surprise – he couldn’t take his eyes off of the monster.

“Do you believe your sister now?” my father asked in a soft and deep voice as he let the illusion of his real self, fade away. Alex nodded. My father smirked and chuckled a bit.

“And who are you, if I may ask? You know whom I am but I don’t know you?” My father already had the answer but he asked the little boy anyway. It was hard to miss that this was my mother’s son. He had the same hair and eye color as her and he had the same bone structure in his face even though he was still a child. My brother puffed out his chest and laid a hand on it.

“I’m Alexander Derek Andersson, son of Derek and Chartom Andersson” My father’s smile faded a little, but never fully when he heard our mother’s new last name.

“So she remarried…”

“Yeah, and she gave me the best little brother ever,” I said and saw how my father pushed away from the pain he felt. It was as if I could read his mind. If I only had been alive then I could’ve given you this sibling.

-

We talked about safe things now when my brother was present, but he soon fell asleep. His eyes fluttered before they finally closed – tired of everything that had happened. Poor boy, he had been through so much. I wondered what I had dragged him into.

“He looks so much like your mother,” my father said. I nodded.

“He does. Alex is the only joy my mother gave me after she forced me to join her and Derek’s cause” I said. I told him about how they had forced me to put on the Witch’s Collar and how I had been forced to fight the people I considered family.

“She isn’t the same woman you loved before” My father shook his head.

“There is something you must know about your mother and that’s that she always does what’s best for her children deep down”

“I have a hard time to believe that” my father sighed.

“Did your mother ever tell you how she and I met?” I raised an eyebrow before I answered.

“Just briefly – before she turned insane after your death”

“Then I want you to listen to the story I have to tell – but not now. Later” he said.

“Why? Why not now?” I asked him. My father took a hold of my hand again and squeezed it.

“Because it isn’t just my story to tell. I think both W, Grillby, and Asgore need to gather themselves before this”

“What have they to do with this?” I asked him.

“Because we were the best of friends before and W has his own story to tell about your mother” I saw the huge pain in his face and feared what I was about to hear.

“Father?”

“Not now sweetie, let me talk to W first and the others. Then I will tell you everything I can tell you, okay?” I pleaded me to listen to him with his eyes and I knew that his decision wasn’t easy to make. I nodded and swallowed.

“Yes,” I said and squeezed his hand back.

What was I about to hear, anyway?

 


	15. Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to:  
> SkylerSkyHigh  
> Thank you for understanding and for you being you.

Chartom let her eyes follow the outline of the child in the picture. His red hair, his green eyes, and his smile. She missed him terribly and she didn’t know when she would be able to see him again. She whipped away some tears in the corner of her eye and tried to stay focused on the task at hand.

Right now she wasn’t safe with her husband. He had called the monster hunters he had contact with and that had led to a witch hunt. Chartom knew that the hunters were an under the organization of the council of magicians – she knew because she had been one of them to create them. She had tried to convince Derek to not contact them at any costs – but he only blamed it on Rick. He was the one making the call – involving them, making them hunt their son and her oldest daughter.

Poor Rick hadn’t been himself since Araphel had left them with Alexander. Everything was empty and MTE Records were starting to lose their biggest stars because of Rick’s way of handling things. He wasn’t well and he missed her daughter greatly. What he had felt for her was true love that had gone wrong. If Derek just had stayed out of the way –

Her phone went off, sending out a loud ringing tone into the air. She picked it out of her pocket and saw that it was Derek – and she swallowed as she pressed the button to answer the call. She had a bad feeling about this.

“Mrs. Andersson” she answered and brushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear. Derek was quiet for a short while before words came out of the phone – and it wasn’t Derek.

“Hello, my dear Sister, how nice it is to finally hear your voice” Chartom felt how the blood drained from her face. How could this be? She was supposed to be dead.

“Patience” Chartom answered as she remembered how the woman once had been under her in rank.

“Tell me Kindness – how is it that you have avoided detection all these years? At least you should have left some kind of trace of yourself” Chartom felt a shiver travel down her spine. Why did she have Derek´s phone?

“What do you want?”

“Bring me the child. Your husband is – or was quite resistant to tell me about his whereabouts” Chartom sat down. She changed tense from is to was. She put a hand in front of her mouth.

“What have you done to Derek?” Chartom asked the other woman. Patience just chuckled a bit before she gave the former Magician of Kindness the answer.

“You will soon see. All I can say is that the Witches Collar he put on you is no longer effective. That is all” Chartom laid a hand on the necklace that now was drained of power. She hadn’t even felt when it lost its ability to control her. She was free – but for a great cost.

“I will never put Alexander in danger! You have to get through me and my daughter first!”

“Oh, so you are depending on the daughter that you cast aside two thousand years ago, huh? But to tell you the truth, dear sister, I do not think she depends on you as much, not after what you have done to her in the past” Chartom felt the old guilt rise up inside of her. Before the birth of her youngest child, she had only been wrapped up in her sorrow after the loss of her first husband and the hunger for power had driven her to the extent that she had searched for her daughter – forcing her to join them. When the birth of Alex had been over – something changed and she started to warm up to her daughter and tried to reach out a hand for forgiveness. Needless to say, Araphel never took it.

“But don’t worry – I need that half breed bastard as well. Our servants are out searching for them at this moment. After the last confrontation, she and her brother have vanished from the face of the earth” Chartom’s eyes sharpened when she heard the other magician’s words.

“If you lay as much as a finger on their heads – I will find you and do what I’ve should have done thousands of years ago!” she hissed. Patience chuckled and went quiet.

“Come and get me then,” she said and hung up. Chartom threw the phone into the wall and screamed at the enemy that wasn’t there.

Patience had it all figured out. She knew that Chartom had chosen Alex as the next wielder of her magic.

Araphel.

She had to get a hold of Araphel and tell her what was going on.

* * *

 

I was sitting on the couch with a warm cup of tea in my hands and a blanket wrapped around my body. Frisk was focused on Flowey in the window while Chara was playing with Alex on the floor. Several days has passed since the attack and I had decided that Alex was best off if he stayed at home with me and the youngsters. None of us could guarantee their safety if they went to school. Toriel was there too so she could continue their education so they wouldn’t miss anything. Gaster, Asgore, Grillby and my father were gathered in Asgore’s study to discuss a few things. I could only imagine what.

Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys had traveled to Washington to meet up with Mettaton for a concert before they would head home again. Sans had quit his job to be at home with me and the kids. He had tried to apologize for his behavior before, but everything was hard to take in. I knew I loved him, but if he couldn’t trust me what were there to build a relationship on?

I could hear Sans and Toriel talk in the kitchen while I tried to focus on just existing. Thousands of thoughts ran through my head. I tried to sort them out but I couldn’t. It was too much for my mind to handle. Fate, my father, Sans, my family, Alex and so on. All I wanted to do was to sleep as I felt so tired.

Suddenly I felt my phone buzz under the blanket so I put away my cup at the coffee table and grabbed it. It was a number I hadn’t seen in a while and I swallowed.

Rick.

Sans felt my shift in emotions as he was suddenly there beside me.

“Is everything alright?” I looked at him and I could see the worry on his skull. I gave him the phone and he looked at the caller id. His sockets became black.

“What does he want?” Sans asked me and gave me the phone back

“I don’t know…” I pressed my thumb to the display.

“Don’t –“

“Yeah?” I answered and waited for Rick’s response. It didn’t take long.

“I thought you wouldn’t answer,” he said with a low voice.

“I don’t blame you” Rick sighed and before he spoke again.

“Listen, I know what I’ve done can’t be forgiven –“

“You’re damn right about that”

“Listen! Derek has been murdered and your mother is missing. They think Alex is kidnapped too. The police were here this morning, Syl” I was quiet. He was dead. Derek was dead. I would be lying if I said I was said about it – but I thought about Alex. His father was dead – not existing anymore and here was I not able to do anything about it.

“So? What has it to do with other than I’m his sister?” I asked him with a strained voice. I could here Rick’s deep and frightened breath in the phone. So many times I had been lying awake to here this breath in a way to find peace myself. The feeling of his chest moving up and down under my skeletal hand as he kept on sleeping.

“They’re searching for Alex’s nanny. They suspect her for the murders and the kidnapping of the wife…”

“But I haven´t – “

“And I told them that, but they still want to get a hold of you. Be careful Syl, and…” his voice faded out without finishing his sentence.

“Do you know who did this?” I asked him with a friendlier tone and I could almost feel his anxiety and relief at the same time.

“I have a hunch, but I’m not certain. The organization that I called to... make an example out of the ambassador, never called back for their payment. I’ve tried to call them but they never answer. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done Syl – I wish I could do everything undone”

“What has happened can’t come undone now,” I said. “Thank you for calling, Rick. I will be careful. Bye”

“Syl!” I didn’t end the call.

“Yeah?” I said.

“I miss you” and then he hung up. The tone the met my hearing screeched like a monotone bird.

“I miss you too” I whispered.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around me and a hand was placed on my head as it pressed me to a shoulder.

“Don’t cry, I can’t stand it when you cry like that” Sans voice whispered and it was then I felt the tears running down the structure of my face. I pressed my eyelids made of bone together as I tried to push the drops of salty water back. Memories of me and Rick flashed by. How he made me laugh when I had been sad, how he flirted with me and how he held every time I cried when everything became too great to bear alone. I had spoken the truth – I did miss him and he had been my only friend. Sans just sat there and tried not show his annoyance over my feelings for the other man – but he could understand why I felt like I did. Rick had been a part of my life for over seven years and he had been there for me when Sans couldn’t. He had been there – but I couldn’t forgive him for what he had done. I had to leave him behind now.

My father and the rest of the guys came out of the room that was Asgore’s study and Ab’s face turned from a smile to worry when he saw my face.

“What happened?” He asked and came towards me. Toriel came out from the kitchen and we were all gathered in the living room. I swallowed my tears and let go of Sans before I reached them out towards my brother. Alex locked eyes with me and it was as if he knew what I was about to tell him – his eyes teared up and he threw himself into my arms.

“Alexander, your – your father is dead” I whispered. Everyone became quiet. Frisk and Chara glanced at each other before they came standing behind the couch. Alex started to cry hard and his small arms wrapped themselves around my neck as my shoulder became wet from his own tears. I didn’t cry because of Derek – but for Alex. He had lost his father and I was at fault. He didn’t have a chance to see him again and now he was gone. My father watched us before he asked the question he was most interested in.

“And Chartom? Where is she?” I met my father’s eyes. He missed her and he still loved her, but who could blame him? He had been ripped from us so suddenly and he hadn’t been there when everything went down the drain. I swallowed. I didn’t want to give him hope if she was dead too.

“She’s missing. The police are looking for her and they think Alex is missing too. They will be looking for me and him…” I turned my head towards my father – meeting his eyes. “Father, what is going on? What is happening?” Gaster and my dad locked eyes for a brief second before Ab sighed and heavily sat on the couch.

“It is a long story – but one that has to be told” he ran his hands through his hair before he looked up at his friends.  “Are you ready?” Asgore and Grillby nodded and Gaster just turned his back to everyone and looked out the window. This story was as much about me as it was about Sans.

Ab nodded and sighed again.

“It all began…”

* * *

 

_It all began one festive summer’s night. Every monster around the monster had come to celebrate and mourn at the same time. A king had passed into time and a new had taken his place – and with him had new friends emerged from the shadows of their masters, taking their places beside the king. The huge male goat monster sat on his throne as he watched subject play games and drinking to his honor. Beside him stood the head of his security, his own personal lifeguard – a monster made out pure fire. Grillby. On the other side, two tall skeletons were bickering over some food that a servant had brought them. One tall with a brown leather armor and a green cap that was wrapped around his shoulders – sockets filled with darkness, only two red pinpricks. He was broad over his shoulders and had a powerful aura around him. Around his waist was a belt and hanging from it was a sword. This was the new Captain of the Royal Guard while the other one he was bickering with was the new Royal Magician. He was taller than the Captain but with a slender built. His void was black like the other one's but he had white pinpricks instead of red. He was dressed in a black robe with a long black cape and a collar that reached up to his cheekbone._

_The new king just chuckled. The two skeletons stopped in their bickering and looked at their king._

_“And what are you laughing at?” The captain said as took a bite of a chicken leg that had been given to him._

_“Nothing other than you two bickering as always. Had I not known that you were of different families I would have thought that you two were brothers” the king said and stroke his blond beard._

_“Asgore, you know, we are practical like brothers,” The captain said._

_“Ab! Do not talk so casual with the king in front of his subjects! We have different roles to fill now and we must do everything to live up to them!” Ab’s elbow made contact with Asgore’s arm as he gave the king a humorous face._

_“Listen to that; he has not even been the Royal Magician for more than a couple of hours and he already sits on his high horses. Come on now Wing Dings, this day is for all four of us – never before has four positions within the royal court been changed. Loosen up a little” The magician just raised a bored eyebrow at his adoptive brother._

_“At least try to not act like a fool when the King of the Humans arrive. Their whole court is coming and that includes their council of magicians” Gaster said and tried to look a bit uninterested even though he was eager to meet other magic wielders like himself._

_“You will get your chance my, friend” Grillby suddenly said to the group. “They have now arrived at the gate”_

_Asgore, Ab and Gaster looked at their friend before a serious atmosphere entered the whole feast. Even though there had been peace between the monsters and humans for several years – the peace was fragile and unsteady at this point._

_“Then please show them here. We can not let our guest wait, can we?” Asgore said and Grillby nodded and sent away the monster that had brought the news. After a few minutes, the gate to the hall where the feast was held opened up._

_“King Geralt of the humans has arrived to congratulate the new king of monsters. How do the king replay?” It was just a custom that had to be followed. The new king had to great the king to show him that they were on friendly terms._

_“I will greet the king with warmth and friendship – please show the king and his court in. Let your souls reach them and treat them like family” Asgore said. Ab watched cautiously and had close eye contact with his soldiers that was scattered around in the hall._

_“Congratulations, your highness! You have now become a king that everyone can look up to!” King Geralt came into the hall – a man with a belly that told anyone around them that this man had power and money. Beside him was a small but slender woman with black hair and beautiful eyes – his queen._

_“Thank you, my friend. I hope that we can continue our friendship and keep the peace between our races” Asgore said._

_The two kings chatted a bit before Ab noticed a dress flutter in the small breeze that swept from the doorway and into the hall. His eyes caught the sight of a tall slender woman with red hair that fell down her shoulders and back like waves in the ocean that hit the shore. Her eyes were green like the leaves that came in the spring. Her lips were full and her features told him that she wasn’t too old. Her body told them that she just had entered adulthood but her eyes said that she held a tremendous amount of wisdom inside of her. Her dress was sewn to fit her body perfectly with a slender waist, broad hips, and a long neck. The arms were covered with the robe like a dress, but a small sight of a pair of white hands told them that she didn’t do any hard work at all._

_Ab wasn’t the only one that had caught sight of the woman in red. Beside him stood his adoptive brother that couldn’t take his eyes off of her._

_“Is it a goddess that stands before me or is it a heavenly being that been sent down to us?” Gaster whispered._

_“I do not know, brother, but she is something different than the rest of them” Ab whispered. Suddenly the woman turned her eyes towards the monsters standing in front of her king. Her green eyes met Ab’s and when he saw that – he felt his soul suddenly sing inside of him._

_A sudden blush crept upon the woman’s face as she averted her eyes from him._

_“Let me introduce the Head sister of the Council of the Magicians. She has had this position for as long as I can remember” Ab looked shocked at the woman. She was older than she looked. The king of humans reached out a hand to the woman, who took it – she was happily led in front of the monsters. She bowed deeply for Asgore and the others – the rest of her council did the same. A soft warm voice came out from between her lips and her she talked with grace and respect._

_“It is a tremendous honor to finally meet the prince that now become king, your majesty” she uttered. Asgore cleared his throat and rose from the throne as he bowed too._

_“The honor is mine, human mage. You far exceed your reputation – your beauty and wisdom are well known among my kin” he said._

_“Your praising is too much, your highness” She raised her eyes again and they met Ab’s once more. Asgore saw the glance and smirked a bit. He cleared his throat once more and reached out a hand towards his Captain._

_“This is the new Captain of the Royal Guards. He had been my friends since we were small” Ab came forward and he never let go of the woman’s eyes. She gave him her hand and he took as he lifted it up to his teeth._

_“The name is Ab of MT Ebott, Captain of the Royal Guards,” He said with a low rumbling voice that went through every fiber of her body. He could feel her soul – strong and kind under the skin – pulsating at the same rate as his. Her touch was electrifying._

_“I am Chartom – Head sister of the Council of Magicians. The Mage of Kindness” She said. Another man was staring at the two – for the first time with jealousy in his soul._

_At this moment, fate was spinning and creating what was about to happen in the future. None of these souls knew how their meeting would come to affect the world._

* * *

I watched my father as he continued his story.

“After that, we started to meet each other without anyone knowing. And we kept it that way for several years until I felt that I couldn’t be without her anymore” Ab said and looked at me.

“What happened?”

“He came to me and told me everything that had been going on. He wanted my approval of marrying the human mage” I turned my gaze to Asgore and saw something with sorrow in his eyes. “But I could not. The peace was far too fragile at that moment for even trying to let monster and humans marry. No one really trusted anyone either. I told him that if he wanted to be with your mother, he had to leave his post as the Captain of the Royal Guard.” Asgore paused for a moment. “I never thought that he would. He had fought so hard so he could take over after his mother, and he just – “

“Threw everything away – out of the window, without any hesitation,” Gaster said in his human form as he glared out into the darkness on the other side of the glass.  I turned my head towards him and I could see that he was upset.

“You would have done the same thing, W. Don’t try to lay this on me alone,” My father said and I saw how Gaster flinched before he turned around to face both me and my father. He had pain in his violet eyes as they focused on my father.

“If I had stopped you – you would never have left and you would never have to die!” He said. Ab rose from his seat at the sofa.

“We talked about this. You could never have stopped me. I loved her too much. She was my everything and when Araphel was born I trusted you to understand” Ab shrugged his shoulders as he turned his gaze towards me.

“What’s going on?” I asked them and felt that I didn’t want to hear the answer.

“I was in love with your mother too…” Gaster said and turned away to walk out the door to the balcony. I looked after him and felt that I had to do something. I looked at my father.

“He didn’t want you to know. He feels so much guilt”.

“Guilt for what?” I asked him.

“That is a question you should ask him. I’m not the one to tell that story” my father said. I closed my eyes as I tried to gather my thoughts for what was coming. The realization of Gaster loving mother was something I hadn't expected.

“I will do it later, but now I need to know – why are there people coming after me? Why do they want Alex?” My father looked at med before he took a deep breath again, filling the lungs with air as he tried to focus on the things he was about to tell me.

“The one hunting you is the Magicians Council, they are the one leading the monster hunters” I felt the dread deep down as I swallowed.

“I thought that the council had vanished… that they had split up… Chartom, was with Derek and not with the council when I met her again” I said.

“Your mother left the post as Head sister of the Council after we married, but it seems that she returned” Something came to my mind when my father spoke.

My mother was the one that had given the prince the herbs that rendered me defenseless against him a long time ago.

“She returned… she was the one that helped the prince so he could assault me. She gave him the herbs that sealed my magic away for some time” My father looked at me with shock and sadness in his red eyes.

“She didn’t –“

“She did… She told me when she sealed me away with the monsters. She just stood there looking with the council surrounding her. She never came to my aid or help” I clenched my hands into fists and bared my teeth at the memory. “She changed when you died”

My father let his head fall into his hands as he tried to comprehend what was said about my mother. All he could remember was how much she had cared for him and me when he was still alive.

“I never knew that she changed that much – I knew what she did to get you on her side seven years ago, but never about the things in the past. She must have left the Council once more after the imprisonment of the monsters.”

“But what do the Council want with her? What has she done to make them hate her that much?” Sans asked. Asgore turned to the shorter skeleton and gazed upon him.

“She turned the time back during the war two thousand years ago. She tried to turn it to our advantage – if I only had known back then…” Sans looked at me. I nodded.

“I did – but how can they know? Not even mother knew about it back then but –“Then it hit me. She had cut my hair when I was little. The bearer of something from me would not be affected by the memory loss that came with the turning of time. Sans was affected by my curse, and so had Gaster been. Derek had had his memory left because he had a bracelet made out of my hair. My father looked at me and I at him.

She did it. How could she? Nothing she does surprise me anymore… a sudden touch against my consciousness made me aware of both Sans and Chara. They both soothed me as Grillby took over to explain things.

“They serve the goddess of Fate and thinks that Sylfaen’s powers are a threat to her divine power. They have always been standing on edge if there ever was a possibility that Araphel would become free – but they saw it too late. She had been free for over seven years and no one had ever had a chance to react” Grillby pushed his glasses further of his nose he didn’t have. “I am surprised though that Mr. Andersson had any contact with the monster hunters without them knowing that he had the Mage of Kindness and the Skeleton Witch under the same roof. I think they found out and that is why he –“ Grillby stopped at his words and looked the sad child sitting in my lap. His father was dead and there wasn’t anything I could do about – not even turn back time.

“But what do they want with the small child, dear? He has not done anything to upset them nor hurt them” Toriel said. I felt how my soul dropped and became cold when my father uttered the most dreadful words I had ever heard.

“They want him because he is the next in line to become the Mage of Kindness” My brother turned his head up towards me as I started to tremble.

“Sis, what is it?” He asked me but I didn’t answer him. I didn't want him to know just yet.

My brother was in danger and so was I. I knew that there would be times I couldn’t be with him. There would be times they would come after him when I couldn’t protect him. He had to learn how to defend himself, and he had magic he could use – but there was a problem. To learn about the magic he was supposed to use in the future, he needed someone to teach him.

“Syl, what are you thinking about?” Sans asked me.

“I have to face them. They won’t stop hunting me until they got me dead. They won’t stop until they got Alexander. You’re all in danger as long as I’m here alive with you all – and I promised to never leave you ever again.” I took a deep breath before I looked at my father.

“We have to find Alex’s mother and she has to train him so he can defend himself. She is the only one that knows how the training is done – I was never taught the ways of the magicians and I can’t be with him every single second. He has to know how to defend himself” Toriel looked a bit worried about it.

“But there will always be someone beside him. He will not be alone” she said. I glanced at Toriel.

“But what if? IF he becomes alone, IF he will be attacked – he must be able to defend himself” I whispered. I looked down at my baby brother. I would force him to grow up quickly. I met his green eyes that were filled with tears. “Is it okay with you, champ?” He nodded.

“Let us find mom,” he said and buried his head into my chest. Sans looked at me as I lowered my head and kissed his hair that was as red as copper.

All I hoped was that I didn’t do a huge mistake.

* * *

I slowly closed the door behind me and felt the wind of the night touching whatever skin I had left. Crickets played their songs and up above the stars twinkled like gemstones in a dark pond. Everything was quiet – even the traffic, that never slept otherwise, was resting tonight. I looked around and saw Gaster leaning on the fence that kept him from falling down to the pavement. His back was hunched and a feeling of angst and regret oozed from him.

“What do you want, Flower?” He asked suddenly. I was quiet. I didn’t want to scare him.

“To hear your side of the story…” he sighed before he turned around and let his elbows and his back rest against the fence.

“What is there to tell? I fell in love with your mother long before you even was born. She choose Ab, before me and –“

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He stopped and glanced over at me with a devastated look on his face.

“I – I wanted to but I could not…” he sighed and let his right hand run through his dark hair. I looked down into the floor.

“Was I a substitute for my mother?” His face became filled with horror. He quickly let go of the fence as he took great steps towards me and wrapped his arms around my figure.

“You were never a substitute for her or anyone else,” He said with a strained voice that told a tale of guilt. He pressed me against his warm body and deep down I could feel my heart move a little. This man had been a huge part of my life until the day he locked me in. Of course, I would still feel something for him – I had killed him and loved him when he lived. Sans emotions felt the sway and I could sense how he became irritated.

“Then tell me everything. I have to know” Gaster became stiff.

“Everything I will tell you – I regret” He trembled and he talked slowly. He was terrified of what he was about to tell me. I pushed him away from me and looked into his eyes. Red and violet met each other – what was once halves of one another was now opposites.

“Tell me, Gaster” He sighed and let go of me before he turned around again to face the night that became darker for every day that went on. He inhaled before he let his breath out and tried to collect himself.

“I courted your mother too, but she was not interested at all. All she saw me as was Ab’s ‘brother’ and a fellow magic user. Everything I did and tried to do was not good enough for her. Her eyes only saw Ab. They fell deeper and deeper in love during the years and I tried to let it go – but I was still jealous. It was always Ab that got the attention from others. He came in and swept every soul away with his presence – sure, I never did care about them” he stopped and his eyes became distant as he tried to remember something that was unclear to him. “But when your mother came into the picture – that was the first time I felt that I really wanted something and Ab just came by and snatched it away. Chartom never looked at me twice. Years passed and suddenly one day your father came by my quarters to tell me something. He had decided to leave his place as the Captain of the Royal Guard to marry the woman he loved. I was more heartbroken than I was angry. He was leaving with the woman I cared for in my heart and he would leave me alone – behind for the first time since we were brought together since I was little. I told him that he was foolish to leave for a woman – but Ab just looked at me at that moment with extreme sadness in his eyes and told me that I would have been as foolish as he was about to be. He was right – I would have done the same thing for her. Ab left us and I had a hard time forgiving him, and years came and went. I mourned the loss of my best friend and Chartom – but one day a letter arrived from Ab. He told me that he wanted me to meet him again so we could talk and sort things out. He did not want us to be separated like we were at that time. He wanted us to be like brothers again” Gaster didn’t notice the figure that was standing in shadows of a curtain on the inside – listening to the story with a heavy heart. I glanced at huge human body – it must have upset my father greatly to see his friend and adoptive brother in such pain.

“I went to their home and I remember that I felt anticipation for the first time in years, even though I knew that Chartom never would be mine. I had given up on her as I knew that Ab and she had made a commitment to each other – creating the soulmate bond. I can still remember that day. The sun had risen above the mountains in the distance and a light fog was lingering near the ground – the grass still wet from the morning dew. Birds were singing and smoke from a fire was rising above the cold air. Chartom was sitting outside their home with something close to her chest. She saw me and smiled – a smile I still have etched in my mind. She looked tired but happy and at that moment Ab came out. He looked more mature than before – as if he had finally grown up to be a man. He came forwards and hugged me and then she led me towards Chartom – to show me what she was holding” his voice faded away and he turned to me to see my reaction.

“What did mother have in her arms?” I didn’t realize that I called her mother. This was the first time since I had been living with her when I was young that I had heard about this side. A nurturing, caring and loving side. This was the mother I remembered - and had loved.

Gaster studied me and his eyes filled up with so much love so I almost thought they would pop out of his head. His smile was gentle and his eyes were half lidded.

“She had the most beautiful thing in the whole world. Something that would move my soul to the core and find my interest. She was holding you…” I felt tears run down my cheek and I covered my mouth to not let out a gasp.

“At the moment I became angry, but curious too. How dared he try something like breeding with a human – risking her and the child’s health? But I became curious because of how it worked out, though. Your father wanted me to be your guarding in case anything happened to him” Gaster stopped again. “I refused and told him that he could not ask me to be that. After that, I left them and never saw them again for a couple of years. The guilt was raging inside of me and I decided to talk to your father once again – accepting the honor to be your guarding in case anything happened. During my travel to them, I met some humans that were not too keen on monsters. They attacked and I was not fast enough to avoid them. I thought I would lose my life – but at just the right moment your father came and saved me. But –“ Now I saw tears running down the scientist’s cheek from the red eyes. I knew now. It had been that time when my father had died and left us. He had saved his brother and friend. I closed my eyes and felt my heartache for father, mother, Gaster and me. So much pain had this family endured.

“I was the one to tell her about his death… I – I was – She –“ Gaster couldn’t say anything more as he sobbed into the night. This guilt must have torn him apart inside. He didn’t have to say anything more. Mother must have blamed him too for her husband’s, my father’s, death and never wanted to see him again as a result. I could only imagine how that conversation went down at that time.

After a few minutes after his tears had run dry he collected himself again and began to tell his story again.

“Then I a few years later when I was outside the Capital of monsters, I saw a young girl that I first thought to be a human. A girl that was on her way into womanhood. She was lonely and she seemed sad over something. She was captivating with all the flowers surrounding her on the field. She was on her way to bloom, just like a flower.” He turned his head towards me and smiled again. “When I knew that you were Ab’s daughter I remembered his request and took it on me to protect you – without you knowing who I was. When you fell in love I panicked – because I felt the same as you and it scared me to death. It felt like I betrayed Ab all over again– but later, I could not be without you. Still, I failed you on so many levels – I could not protect you from Asgore’s wrath and I failed to recognize Chartom in her disguise. I hurt and even killed you in a different timeline. I blame myself for so many things and I can understand if you will not ever talk to me again –“

“Gaster, please stop” I interrupted him. He went quiet and he couldn’t see me in the eyes. “I don’t blame you. I don’t hate you. I forgive you” I told him. I took one of his hands in mine and the warmth in it traveled through the surface of my bones. “It has been hard on you and I can understand why you’ve acted the way you have,” I told him. He glanced at me as if he couldn’t believe what I told him right now. He pulled me into his human form and hugged me tightly as I tried to breathe. I put my hands on his back as I hugged him back. I loved Sans, I really did, but Gaster had been the first man I ever loved and no one could ever replace him.

“I love you, Flower” he whispered and I smiled – even though he couldn’t see it.

“I know…” I whispered back and let my head become empty. I had finally gotten the truth and now I had a mission to complete.

 

But not right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here I was again! :D  
> Sorry for the extreme late chapter! I have been busy with myself and with my husband to be. Plus, this chapter was more of 'I-must- write-this-to-capture-all-lose-ends' kind of thing. I hope I reached that goal and that Sylfaen can now foccus on the adventure ahead of her :D I think next chapter will be much easier to write!
> 
> If you liked it? Leave a kudos and feel to bookmark it ;)
> 
> Love ya'll! <3  
> PurpleNightSong


	16. Speeding

 

Sans was studying Syl as she tried again to release some of her magic. He could feel how the level of it raised inside of her but nothing was summoned or able to manifest itself in any way. The sweat was running down her face as she focused and tried to concentrate. She was annoyed and angry – not at anyone else but on herself. Sans tried to sooth her with his emotions but it was like if she didn’t listen to him at all. Ever since the day she was woken up, being told the truth about Ab’s death and Gaster’s involvement – she had decided to do everything by herself.

No one accepted that.

Toriel, Papyrus, and Alphys had cleaned out her apartment after they came back before the cops would find it. Alex had been registered at his mother’s place for the school's contact information – but Toriel thought it would be for the best if they cleaned the apartment out, just in case. Syl had been worried at first that Alex would miss school – but he didn’t. He played with Frisk, teased with Flowey and read with Chara. Their little quintet was not be disturbed if necessary. She, on the other hand, looked exhausted and she started to have darker areas under her sockets as if she didn’t get enough sleep. She didn’t.

Every night she moved and turned back and forth in bed – as if demons hunted her through her dreams. Sans tried to calm her but not even his emotions could reach her. It only made it worse. The first time he had tried she had screamed out in fear and her emotions told him a story of pain and hurt. He figured out after a few times that the best way to calm her down during her nightmares was to shield off his emotions until morning. The nightmares were still there, but she didn’t turn as much. When he asked her about them she just turned away and didn’t answer him. She didn’t want to talk about it, and Sans could understand why. Whenever she tried to explain things – especially if it involved him or other things that could hurt their tight knitted family, he exploded and doubted her sanity. She didn’t want to make him upset or make him doubt her at all.

Then there was the severity of her wounds not healing properly. They had healed so much so there was fragile scar tissue over it but whenever she pressured herself – the wounds reopened and Toriel had to quickly heal it before she bleeds out. Gaster had tried to figure out was wrong but the only conclusion he got was that there was some other magic that hindered the wound to heal properly. Sans suspected that it also had something to do with the hindrance of her using magic too. He wasn’t too sure about it, though.

He threw a glance at the woman sitting on the couch as she tried again, and he could see how the white t-shirt was starting to turn pink and slowly becoming a darker shade of red. Sans acted quickly.

“Tori! We need your help again!” The goat monster was quickly at their side – pulling up the shirt of the woman and put her hands on the wounds as a green light emitted from hands.

“I’m fine! I can handle this!” Syl said and Sans could both sense and feel how irritated she was about this. Toriel gave her a stern look.

“As it seems that you can not handle this, young lady. This is the third time – today. You must rest and let the wounds heal” Toriel said with a warm voice. Ever since they had come back with both Gaster and Ab, the former queen of monsters had had a softer approach against the woman that she once called her daughter.

“If you just let me try! I almost had it this time!” Syl complained. Sans gave her a lazy smile before he gave her a response.

“You weren’t any closer than the last time – Syl, babe, listen to Toriel. Before we can figure things out what’s wrong with ya’ – the best thing ya’ can do is rest” He quickly felt rage welling up inside of him that wasn’t his, before all emotions were cut off. He met the angry glare of the woman he loved and shared the bond with.

“Piss off!” she hissed at him and Sans felt a sting of hurt hitting him like a needle. She shoved off Toriel’s hands from her body as she rose from the couch and went outside – slamming the balcony door behind her. Toriel looked down at her hands and then at Sans.

“Sans, I think you two have some issues to work through – this may be the time. She has not been herself since the day Gaster and Ab talked to her and she seems distressed. She has talked to one and it seems like she is bottling up every negative emotion inside of her” Sans sighed. Toriel was right. She was almost always right about these sort of things.

“I think she’s starting to feel depressed. She hasn’t succeeded in using her magic at all since the day she was attacked. I’ll talk to her – but I have to make a phone call first” he said. Toriel nodded and went back to the kitchen where she had started to prepare lunch for them before she got interrupted. Sans looked around him to notice that none of the kids were in the room, that he was all alone. Gaster, Ab, and Asgore were out – trying to find Alex’ and Syl’s mother so they could bring her back here. He picked up his phone and dialed a number. The few ringtones went off before the monster on the other end answered.

“Hey, it’s me. I need your help”

* * *

I picked out a cigarette and the lighter from the package I always carried with me. As the toxic smoke went down what I supposed was my lungs – I felt the nicotine rushing out in my bloodstream. It was a beautiful day with many people and monsters outside to play. I had never felt more trapped than I did now. Here I was – free from any oppression but sealed off from my magic so I couldn’t really do anything. Sans was getting on my nerves – or rather everyone else was getting on my nerves. They were free to use magic as they pleased – damn, even my brother was able to use it to some extent. The only connection I felt was the one to bend the time – but if I used it, I would die.

The nightmares were getting bad too. Everyone worse than the other one before. It made me feel unhappy and depressed every time I woke up. I was afraid that Sans wouldn’t be there, resting beside me – but every time I woke up I could settle my eyes on his back and hear his snoring. Every night I dreamt about how he was killed – every night the same way. He stepping out in front of me to protect me from the person that was attacking us.

Are you sure that they are just dreams? Charas voice echoed inside of me. That was what she had said to me the first time I saw her in the flesh since the attack in the park. I felt the ache in every joint, the pain in my heart and tickling under my skin when I imagined that maybe – just maybe, that these dreams weren't just dreams. Fate had talked about other timelines where I had died because of me turning the time back. Other timelines meant different alternative me that would be different.

My throat became blocked and I couldn’t breathe. These thoughts made me sick. I bent over the fence that kept everyone from falling and felt how my breakfast left me in an instant. The feeling burnt up through the throat, releasing me from the blockage. Air swept into my body again. I felt a warm and strong hand on my back – caressing its way up and down in a soothing motion. My muscles relaxed when they felt the warmth of Sans’ fingertips.

“Hey babe, what’s the matter?” asked me. His voice was quiet and I couldn’t look at him. I already knew what kind of face he was giving me – worry, guilt, jealousy and pain. His fingers trailed their way up my neck. “Please let me in…” he touched my head gently and I sighed at the touch. I let the walls fall down and every emotion I and he felt rushed inside and mixed. I could hear how Sans took a deep breath when he felt the huge anxiety inside of me.

“Do you still wanna’ be inside?” I asked him dryly. He flinched at my tone of voice before he gave ma smug grin and wiggled his ‘supposed-to-be’ eyebrows.

“Always babe”

“Piss off, Sans” I snarled at him before I felt a new wave of nausea coming over me. Once again I emptied myself from the contents of my stomach. Sans emotion of worry got stronger.

“Hey, are ya’ sick?” I shook my head.

“No, just anxious over everything that happens around me right now,” I said and tried to straighten myself up. Sans turned my head towards him as he studied me – his thumb caressing the bone right under my sockets.

“You’re not getting enough sleep – your nightmares is scaring you. What are they about, Syl? Please tell me” I became quiet. This wasn’t the first time Sans had asked me that question. I just couldn’t tell him that I kept on dreaming about him dying and that it was different types of him.

“Please Sans, I’m tired, besides – they’re just nightmares. Nothing to care about” I told him and averted my eyes.

“Don’t do that…” He whispered and let go of me.

“Don’t do what?” I asked him. He turned around sighed – shoving his hands down his pockets in irritation.

“You don’t tell me anything and you hide stuff from me. I’m your soulmate – isn’t you supposed to tell me things that disturb you?” he asked and I felt a sting of guilt inside me.

“It isn’t easy to tell you things when you the majority don’t trust me. Isn’t that also something soulmates should do? Trust each other?” Sans turned around and met my eyes and we stared at each other. None of us said anything and the silence started to become unpleasant.

“I’m sorry for not having trust in you – but it’s hard to trust when you left us as you did last time. Every morning I wake up and feel afraid that you won’t be there. You get hurt, you seal yourself up inside and don’t want to let me in. I want to trust you – but every time something happens around you I get scared…” I saw how something gleamed in the corner of his sockets. He was honest and it wasn’t easy for him to tell me this. I bit my lip and closed my sockets.

“I dream about how you die – how everyone dies and leaving me behind and alone” my voice trembled. “It always about how you die, but it’s always different. You can be more like Papyrus, sometimes you’re human – other times you’re evil. How we lived and how we have been being always the same but everyone is different. But it always ends the same way – you and everyone die because of me…” Tears ran down my cheek and Sans’ sockets were empty and his smile was stale. “I can’t do anything – just watch and see how you die every time. I’m afraid to sleep and afraid to wake up. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen and what will happen when I meet the council? What if you’ll die and leave me behind? What can I do? What will I do? What if these dreams are real? I can’t –“suddenly I was silenced by Sans that pressed me to him and I could feel the void enveloping around us as he transferred us somewhere. In the void, I could hear the sound of the dragons but they were too far away for me to call them to me. Suddenly everything became light again and I saw that we were standing in a garage and the light I saw was the artificial one from the lamps above us. It smelled of oil, dust, rust and metal - mixing into one smell making me remember every night I spent with Rick to help him fix his mustang as well as my supra.

In the garage I could see a workbench in the corner and in the middle was a car with a cover over it. The walls had once been white but now they were gray and even black on some places, and it reminded me of the dress that had the same color once I had been released from my prison underground.

“Where are we?” I asked Sans that had released me from his hold and went up the car under the cover. He had his back turned to me as he put a bone white hand on the fabric.

“At a place, I rented a few months ago – right after you came back. When I returned home from work one day, one of those days I actually walked home, I found something that might cheer you up” he pulled the cover from the car and I felt my heart race in my chest when the paint job was shown.

Blood red paint that glistens in the light of the lamps, black rims and the interior in black leather. Tinted windows and the air intake for the twin turbo stood out from the hood. It was my car – my Toyota Supra that I thought I would never see again.

“I found standing outside the park you and Frisk were attacked. It was badly damaged and I never thought I would get it running again – but somehow I manage and now it is here” Sans said and threw something to me. I quickly caught it and felt the form of a key in my hand. The car key. Sans had changed the ignition and the lock all around the car to get it to work. I went to the driver’s seat and let the key slide into the lock. The sound of the car opens up all around sent goose bumps over my parts that were human. I looked at Sans and he met me with a smile that made my heart flutter. He had rescued my car and he had worked on it.

“Why? The parts of this beauty aren't cheap. How did you manage to afford it?” I asked him as I sat down in the seat. The leather interior squeaked under my weight and the smell of a newly cleaned inside hit me. I let my hands caress the steering wheel and I bit my lip. I found myself wondering how I could’ve survived without a car two thousand years ago. Sans opened up the door and sat down in the passenger seat beside me.

“I have contacts, sweetie´” he told me and winked at me. Sans took out a small remote from his left pocket and directed it against the garage doors. He pressed the button and the doors slide open in front of me. I looked at him. He smiled at me.

“Come on! Start this baby up! Ever since I saw you drive it I wanted to ride in this beauty too – with you behind the wheels of course. I get so tired of driving –“

“Cause you’re a motorbike kind of a guy?” I finished and all he did was grin at me. I put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car road to life and whistling sound of the turbo charging made a shiver run down my spine. I pressed the gas paddle and felt the engine screamed for me to release her from her prison – to let her out in the sun. I felt my heart pumping and my blood rushing through my veins. The adrenaline was rising – and for a moment I forgot about everything I had to do, everything that was laying in front of me. I glanced over to Sans and he could feel my emotions, and his smile became nervous for a second.

“Hold on, bone boy – you’re on for a hell of a ride,” I said and pressed down the clutch, pressed in the first gear and released it as I pressed on the gas to meet up the clutch. The tires screamed – and soon all that the garage was filled with was thick white smoke and echoes of Sans’ screams.

* * *

_I was picking up books from the ‘return-bin’ and putting them in the cart. It was always easier that way – and I could bring with me plenty of books between the shelves. I felt safe here, it even felt like a home to me. Here I was surrounded by things and people that didn’t give suspicious glances and comments on my appearance on what I was. A half-breed. Something new and something to be afraid of. My father dead since long ago, my mother and I had been alone in a secluded area for many years until she vanished and never came back. I had never met people before – other than those that passed by our cottage and then I only saw them through our windows. One day, though, I met Toriel – the monster woman, once a queen, and she had brought me to the new world. A new world that was afraid of people of me – even the monsters held their distance from me._

_Toriel, on the other hand, took me under her wings and gave me an education and a place for me to work. When she had taught me the art of reading – I never wanted to stop so she gave me a place at a library that she ran on the side of her other work at a private school for monsters and humans. She had become my family together with Frisk and everyone else. Undyne, Alphys, Asgore and Papyrus were the persons that stood closest to me. This where I belonged._

_I sighed and put the last book in on the cart and went to the first shelf to put a few books where they belonged. Then I smelled it. Smoke. Was someone smoking here? In the library? I let go of the cart and walked between the shelves to find the culprit and soon enough I found a figure in the quantum physics department. He had his back towards me but he by his posture I could assume he was holding a book in his hands and a trail of smoke rose from him. Cigarettes. I felt how I became annoyed by this and walked towards the tall person in a black leather jacket with a hood lined with white fur._

_“And what do you think you’re doing?” I asked with a hard and stern voice when I reached him but he didn’t even turn around. He just waved with an annoyed hand over his shoulder as he kept on reading and puffing on his cigarette. I saw that his hand was made out of bone and he reminded me of papyrus. Was he a skeleton monster?_

_“Keep walking pumpkin’. I don’t have time for kids runnin’ around telling me what to do” he said and his voice was so dark that it sent shivers down my spine. I raised my eyebrow and cleared my throat._

_“And who are you calling a kid? I’m working here” I said. This got his attention but not so he became scared, more like ‘are-you-for-real?´. My breath stopped in my throat when I saw the yellow iris on the black background and the cracks running from both his sockets. He turned to face me with a full front body. Under the jacket, he had a turtle-necked gray sweater that reminded me of something my father sometimes wore. A pair of jeans was seated on his legs and reminded me of a lake during a late summer’s night. In the corner of his mouth, he had his cigarette. When he locked his eyes on me, he raised what was supposed to be an eyebrow – and swept his eyes up and down until he met my eyes again._

_“You were sayin’ what sweetie´?” he said and puffed once more on the cigarette. I quickly snatched the cigarette from his mouth and put it out._

_“First of all, PAL. I’m not your ‘sweetie’ and seconded; this is a library. If you want to smoke you have to do it outside. There are people with allergies and asthma – and they have to be able to come here too!” I snarled at him, pointing my finger into his broad chest as I looked up at him. He looked a bit shocked and looked down on my finger before a smug grin returned to his face. He made his eyes half lidded and looked at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. He slowly leaned over me._

_“Aww, that was my last cigarette. Now I can’t go outside smokin’. How are ya’ going to repay me sweetheart?” he purred. I swallowed and quickly took my hand away from his body. This stupid skeleton was getting on my nerves._

_“Re- repay y-you? I’m not the one that did anything w-wrong” I stuttered and slowly backed away from the monster – but he followed me. Soon enough I felt a shelf up my back and the skeleton leaned in over me to rest his arm above my head._

_“Wrong? Who talked about anyone doin’ anythin’ wrong? You put out my last cigarette and here I am now without ‘em” His face came closer to mine as he raised his other hand – taking a strand of my hair between his fingers. His face just a few inches from me. He locked his eyes with mine and the intense stare made me blush._

_“So, how are ya’ going to repay me, huh?” he whispered. His fingers let go of my hair and instead, he let his thumb caress my bottom lip. I hadn’t noticed how they had parted._

_“I – you – please stop this…” I said weakly. He chuckled and came closer. I felt how my heart and soul pounded in my chest and how my blood was racing through my veins._

_He stopped and let go of me as if I was something that has been contaminated with something deadly. I looked at him and saw how his while posture and eyes changed. That gaze he gave me I had seen on so many others. My heart dropped._

_“Did ya’ really think I would do something to ya’? Think twice then sweetheart. You’re not my type at all” he said and shoved his hands in his pockets. He turned around and walked away without a word._

_When he disappeared around the corner of one shelf I let myself slide down, covering my mouth where he had touched me. My skin still burned from the touch, but what burned more was his words. Not his type – a half-breed. What did I really think would happen? No one would ever touch me. Without me noticing, tears started to fall from my eye and eye socket. His words had stung like hell and now I was left a trembling mess. Our encounter had just been brief but it was enough. He had made an impact. I had never felt drawn to any other being any less a man – but now? I had been rejected even before I had noticed that I had been attracted to him._

_When I came back to the front desk, the female goat monster looked at me and saw that I had been crying. She came forward and looked at me with a worried look in her eyes._

_“What has happened my child? Have something hurt you?” I shook my head and quickly whipped my tears away that was left on my face._

_“I’m okay, Tori. Nothing to worry about” and after that, I tried to forget about the painful meeting with the skeleton monster._

* * *

“Syl, babe. I don’t want to be a rude or anything, but do you think you can slow down a little?” Sans asked as I drove passed every car on the motorway in high speed. He sweated and all I could do was laugh. This gave me a kick. It made me feel alive.

We had been driving since we left the garage and the night was now nearing. The streetlight through their orange glow on every car passing them, gleaming and glistening like they were driving through a sunset. Under the hood of my car, I could hear the engine working and roaring.

“Come on Sans! Live a little!” I said and pressed the gas to the floor. He looked at me and I could feel that he wasn’t used to this kind of speed. I looked at him and decided that the fun was over.

I drove off the highway and started to circle back to the parking lot where we were staying right now. When I parked I turned off the engine and leaned back in the seat. Sans emotions were a bit upset and I could feel the leftovers of his fear. I closed my eyes. I knew I had been avoiding his question, afraid of him exploding at me – but for him to start to trust me and not explode I had to tell him the truth about how I felt, or else we would be in a bad circle of not telling and not trusting. I took a deep breath.

“I’ve been having more of those dreams than I tell you and they change constantly as I told you earlier. As if there would be other alternative universes where these kinds of things happen. But what scares me is that every time – you die in the end and leaving me behind. Everyone is dead or a few. Sometimes it’s you that dies, others there is Asgore and Frisk. Or Toriel and Papyrus – but they all have one thing in common and that’s your death. It scares me” Sans was quiet as he looked at into to darkness. His sockets empty and his smile faltering. I put my head in my hands as continued. He had already heard this but he had to really know how this felt for me if he was to understand the content of it all.

“I’ve dreamt of meeting Fate in the Hall of Judgement. I dreamt about you dying every time. Each time that happens – I can’t control my actions. I’m frozen to the ground seeing you being impaled… It scares me to the core of my being. I’m afraid that it’s the reality to come...” I felt the anxiety return to me in full force. I had been rid of it for a few hours but now it didn’t show any mercy. I started to breathe heavily.

“I can’t defend myself anymore now when my magic is gone. What if I’m left here and you all vanish from my sight?” I turned to Sans. Tears streaming down from my sockets. Sans’ pin pricks had returned to his eyes and he reached for now when he felt my anxiety. “I must win! I must challenge the council and defeat them so they can leave us all alone so we can build our life!” He kissed me furiously and silenced me. I started shivering and soon I trembled so hard that Sans had to rock me back and forth like a child as I wailed out every emotion inside of me. I couldn’t take this, I just couldn’t. All I wanted was to go to sleep and never wake up again. I wanted to enter a dream world where I and Sans could live in peace with everyone else.

“When all this is over, I promise you – I will marry you and we will move back to MT Ebott and settle down. You can tend to your herbs and I can always –“

“Be a lazybones?” I asked him between the tears. Sans chuckled.

“Yeah… but Papyrus will have to settle for a house of his own this time” he turned my head up this again with a stare that made me shiver. “Because I don’t like the idea of my brother walking in on us as do you table” Sans words made me chuckle. He made me already feel better – looking forward to when we would be free from all of this.

We sat like that for a while so my tears would stop, my heart returns to normal, before Sans opened up his mouth.

“I have to tell you something, babe. Promise not to get mad, okay?” I sighed.

“When you say it like that – of course I will get mad. Spit it out”

“I called an old friend of mine when I saw how you struggled with your magic. She might be able to help you” he said and avoided my sight.

“Not even Gaster could help me out. How do you think someone could help?” Sans swallowed.

“Because she is leading in the field of human and monster healing magic – working on a project involving human magic damage in monsters…” I looked at him.

“Sans. Who. Is. It?” Sans eyes flicked from me to the balcony up above us. My eyes followed his and soon I saw a woman that made my jaw dropped.

“You. Didn’t” I said and swallowed – knowing my time had come to an end as soon I entered the apartment.

“Yes, I did. She’s the only one I could think of that could help you out” I swallowed.

“How fucked am I when I enter that apartment?” I asked him while I studied the woman. Sans didn’t answer that question and I knew I was screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who can it be that is waiting for Syl in the apartment? What is that dream she's having? Who is about and how does it fit into the story?  
> Only time will tell my dear readers.  
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
> Please leave a kudos and bookmark this fiction, in that case :D  
> Love you all!  
> PurpleNightSong


	17. Flames

_The bar was dimly lit and all I could focus on was the glass standing in front of me. A few weeks had passed since the incident at work and I still couldn't shake off the feeling of rejection. Sure he had been hot and sexy as hell – but to sulk over a thing like that wasn't like me at all._

_Papyrus had noticed the change in my behavior and he had tried to cheer me up and talk to me about other things. He told me about his brother, that I didn't know he had, and how he had moved into the city to start working with Alphys at the research lab. He would come and visit as soon as he had settled in and Papyrus was eager to make the presentation between us. He hadn't seen him in years and that explained why I hadn't heard of him before. It seemed like the brothers had fought the last time they had been in the same room and it had been too difficult for Papyrus to even speak his name. Now they had reconciled and had said that they would see each other soon. The rest of the family knew about this brother and he was a dear friend to them all – but to spare Paps, they hadn't spoken of him before._

_This night though, I was all alone. Undyne had some work downtown at the police station, Papyrus was taking that extra cooking class, Alphys had an evening seminar and Tori, Asgore and Frisk were at the movie. Hell, even Mettaton was out of town. I rotated the glass filled with whiskey as Grillby came by and looked down at me. He always listened to me when there was something and he had come to know me quite well by now._

_"Everything alright with ya'?" he asked me as he pulled out a bottle of my favorite beer instead of the whiskey I hadn't touched. I just hummed at him. A vague answer for his question. "Mind talking about it?" I turned my head to the fire monster standing in front of me. He had been nice to me since the first day I walked in here. Why couldn't I be attracted to him instead? He was a good guy and would be a perfect boyfriend. Hard working, good looking, wise but he was still too… daddy-like for me and the last thing I had was daddy issues._

_"There was an incident at work a few weeks ago..." I told him about the meeting with the other skeleton monster and how he had acted against me. How he had affected me and what he had done. "He told me that I wasn't his type, Grillby… both you and I know what he meant by that…" I emptied the bottle of beer and smashed it down the counter – so hard that it made a cracking noise. I started to feel the effect of the alcohol running through my blood stream._

_"Don't take it so hard – you will find someone eventually" he gave me a new bottle of beer and I took a swing at it._

_"The worst part isn't that look he gave me or even what he said to me. It was how I felt when he came closer and when he touched me like he did!" I smashed the bottle down to the counter again – making the beer splash all over. Grillby sighed and pulled out a rag to wipe off the liquid from the oak wood._

_"If I were you – I would let that incident go and move on. No point in dwelling on what almost happened and what didn't" the fire monster pushed up his glasses on his_ none _existing nose ridge._

_At that moment the doorbell chimed and told us about a new customer's arrival._

_"Welcome to Grillby's. What can I serve ya'?" Grillby said to welcome this new customer. I took a new swing at the beer bottle – but not as hard as before._

_"Hey, Grillz. A glass of scotch – your finest this time" said a dark husky voice that sent chills down my spine just like that day at work several weeks ago_

_No… this can't be true… What had I done to karma in my past life?_

_The fire monster looked annoyed._

_"You know, as long as you pay your freaking tab since seven years ago then there is no problem serving you" I could hear how the person came closer and the smell of cigarette smoke reached my nose. His boots making contact with the wooden floor sent trembles through the ground and up my chair. I swallowed and felt my mouth go dry even if I had taken a sip of the beer. I pulled my hair in front of me to make curtain between me and the male monster coming up behind me._

_"Aw Grillz, is that how ya' greet an old friend?" I could feel how he leaned to the counter and I saw how Grillby took out a glass that he poured some of his best scotch into._

_"That is how I greet everyone that doesn't pay their tab, G" I glanced behind my hair at the monster. I could see the black leather jacket and his underarms. The bones in them were thicker than mine and any other human bones. His hand holding the glass had holes through the palms. I let my eyesight travel up his arm, up to his neck where the fur-like lining of the hood rested on his shoulder. When I came up to his face I met a yellow iris in the socket filled with void and the mouth holding a cigarette had a smug grin. I quickly turned away – but it was too late, I had already caught his attention. He leaned down and rested his skull in his palm. The smug grin still on his face._

_"Hey, there sweetheart. Care to turn around and chat for a bit?" he said in that husky voice. I swallowed and shook my head. I really didn't want to talk this man more than necessary – at that meant not at all. Did Grillby really know this asshole? I'm glad that I hadn't described how he looked like for Grillby._

_"Leave her be, G. She is my best paying customer and I want it to stay that way without ya' coming here womanizing" The monster called G looked up in shock and put on a hurt look on his face._

_"Grillz, I would never!" he said. And turned back to me. "What's the matter, pumpkin', did your boyfriend dump ya'?" he asked. I shook my head and rose up from the chair – turning my back to him so he wouldn't see me or my face. I took up my purse and took out some money for Grillby and put it on the counter. What I didn't notice were how G, studied the hand I used to put the money on the counter with._

_"Thanks for the beer Grillby. Can you come over with a new bottle in about ten minutes? I think I will be done with this one then" I said and steered my way to one of the booths and sat down.  I breathed out and cursed myself silently. Why did I stay? Why didn't I just walk out of there when he came in? Why? I was so fucking stupid. This part I hated about me – being a woman right now. I pushed away my hair from my face because I tickled my skin and bone in the face. I shouldn't have done that._

_"I thought I'd seen that color of hair somewhere. How's it been, sweetheart? Missed me?" I turned to the voice and saw G standing there with two bottles of beer in his hand. He had his cigarette lighted and he eyed me up and down where I sat._

_"Leave me alone" but he didn't – instead he sat down beside me and pushed one of the bottles towards me. I pushed it back to him._

_"Oh, come on. Just drink it"_

_"I don't want anything from you," I said and tried to ignore him. Why didn't I leave?_

_"I haven't putt anythin' in that beer if that what ya' think," he said. I looked at him and rose from my place_

_"Because I'm not your type," I said and was about to leave. He suddenly grabbed my wrist and dragged me down to sit right next to him. He took a hold of my face._

_"Yes – and if ya' were, babe, I wouldn't have to put anythin' in that drink anyway. I could make ya' purr like kitty cat without any drugs, trust me" He said when he held my chin in his hand. He locked his eyes with mine before they traveled down to my lips._

_"What make you think that I would purr for you?" I asked even though my voice didn't bear._

_"I always make the woman purr for me – and you wouldn't be any different, sweetheart" he whispered to me. I tried to meet his gaze steady._

_"I'm not your type and I'm definitely not your sweetheart…" my voice broke._

_His thumb caressed my bottom lip again and as it made its way over the sensitive skin, it sent jolts of electricity through me. As a reflex, my tongue tried to wet my lips and in the process licking his thumb. He tasted like whiskey and bone._

_He stopped and I tried to recover my face from him in embarrassment but he held it steady in his hand. He met my eyes and he inched a bit closer to me as he slowly closed his eyelids._

_"But if ya' do that I can't promise ya' that you ain't' my type, sweetheart…" he whispered. My heart stopped in my chest and I slowly closed my eyes. I could feel his breath on my face and it too smelled of whiskey and of cigarettes. Every sound was blocked out from the bubble that I was creating. But that bubble was soon popped by the voices. It was like a bucket of cold water._

_"Disgusting"_

_"How can he even touch her? I wouldn't even take money to touch such filth…"_

_"It's the half-breed. How can someone come with a thought about getting a child between humans and monsters?"_

_I pushed him away from me and he looked shocked when I did that. He looked around and his face showed anger before he saw the tears in my eyes. He widened his sockets._

_"I need to go…" I whispered and quickly rose from my place. He caught my wrist again – but much gentler this time._

_"Hey, wait –" I interrupted him before he could finish that thought._

_"You said it yourself and I say for the third time: I'm not your type and you heard what they said: I'm a half breed…" I snatched my wrist back from him and stormed out from the bar._

* * *

 

The sound of the slap reached my ears before the stinging pain of fire did. I saw stars blinking in front of my eyes. The stars had the color of green flames and I slowly reconnected to the world. I raised my hand so I could touch the spot the hand had hit me.

"Nice to see you again… Cresta" the fire woman slapped me again and this time I dodge.

"Over seven years and the only thing you can say to me is ‘Nice to see you again'? Where the heck have ya' been girl?" Her flames reached high and colored every wall in the hall green. I looked at Cresta. She had been my best friend when I had been living with them all seven years ago.

"I've been doing stuff…"

"Doing stuff?! Making everyone worry about ya'? Hurting everyone? Killing Dr. Gaster?" The guilt hit me with its full force.

"Hey, Cresta, take it easy on her, will ya'?" Sans said and stepped in beside me as he caressed my arm.

"Easy on her? Are you kidding me? She hurt ya' like hell the last time! You didn't become a real person until over two years had passed! Now she's back – and no one told me about it!" I never thought that a fire elemental could cry but now I saw how tears of something that looked much like lava fell down her face. She turned her face towards me and I felt my heart shrink in my chest. "I missed you too, you know and you didn't even contact me when shit hit the fan. You didn't contact me when you came back. Why Syl? I thought we were friends" I felt my tears well up inside of me and tried to confront her.

"Of course we are friends! I wanted to call you! Every day I wanted to call you and hear about how everything was with you and everyone else! But I couldn't if I did – I would die and everyone else would get hurt…" I said and looked her in the eyes. "That was why I didn't call you – and when I finally got free, everything was overwhelming and I was afraid…" Cresta looked at me and then she suddenly threw herself around my neck and crying into my shoulder – and so did I.

She had been my first friend among the monsters and she had taken care of me helped me with my clothes at the beginning. She had been like a sister to me – hell, she had even given up on Sans in the end just because she cared about my happiness. I had betrayed her in the end and left her alone without an explanation – but, no one got one either way.

 Cresta's tears came to an end and she pushed me away from her so she could take a look at me.

"You look like crap," she said and whipped her tears from her eyes. I chuckled a bit – feeling the anxiety of meeting her slowly going away.

"More than I can say about you. Do you ever have a bad day?" I asked her as I eyed her up and down. A pen skirt in the same color as lead, a white blouse that was unbuttoned so you could see a good portion of her cleavage and a white lab coat over all that. Stylish earrings and other jewelry enhanced what good quality she had as she didn't have any hair to style.

"Sure I have them, but I always cover them up," She said and took a greater look at me. "You, on the other hand, seems to have them a lot" I raised my eyebrow at her.

"There's no need to be rude, miss" I muttered. "How come you became a scientist? I thought you were more into fashion than you were into this kind of stuff," She glanced over to Sans before she uttered her words. I suspected that something had been going on between them after I left Sans.

"I… wanted to see how human magic could affect monsters and if there was a way to heal any damage done by humans…" She glanced at me. She wanted to heal Sans' wound after my departure and find a way to heal the emotional wounds so he could move on.

"I suspect that nothing worked?" I said to her. She sighed and bit her lip.

"It's hard to find monsters hurt by humans – even though I've tried to help the few that has. The treatment I've come up with is still in the trial stage due to the lack of monsters available"

"Do you think you can help her?" Sans asked and touched one of the fragile scars on my arms. Cresta glanced at me.

"Maybe. Much depends on what kind of magic that has been used and what its intentions are from the start. I will try. Can we take your room so I can examine her?" Sans nodded and I showed Cresta to the room that I shared with the monster. The room was dark but not as filthy as it had been before.

 Cresta turned on the light and made a motion to me to sit down on the bed. In her right hand, she had a black doctors bag. She must have picked it up before we went inside. She placed it on Sans' desk and opened it up.

"Please take off the clothes that hide the damage," she said. I sighed and did as I was told. When Cresta turned around she gasped for air when I was standing there without a single piece of fabric on me. My whole body was covered with scars that the monster hunter's wound had inflicted or there was more bone showing – primarily on my arms. She put a flaming hand over her mouth. "I- I didn't know…" I laughed dryly.

"Sans didn't tell you the whole story did he?"

"No… he only told me half of it… at a minimum. What happened to ya´?" she asked when she came forward to study the new bone material that had come forth. I took a deep breath gathered myself for what was coming.

"I was forced through a bond to cut all my ties with you guys. My mother –"

"Your mother?!" I nodded.

"My mother and her new husband forced me to join them. They were after my abilities to bend the time. Derek wanted to be successful in everything he did and to do so he had to bend the time at several occasion. He used it and I had to pay for it…" I moved my fingers in my right hand. "The magic had to take its power from somewhere and that power is from my own physical body… but when the power source runs out, I'll die…" Cresta looked at me deep in the eyes.

"Does Sans know?"

"That I will die if I bend time again? No – and I don't want him to know either"

"Syl –"

"If I told him that I'm at risk of dying he won't leave me alone at all and he won't care for anything else. I beg of you Cresta not to tell him anything…" She looked at me and she saw that this was important.

"I promise" she became quiet and started to examine me as I stood there. The silence made it ring in my ears and it started to become awkward.

Cresta was about to take a blood sample from me when I asked her a question that I both wanted and didn't want an answer to.

"Did something happened between you and Sans when I disappeared?" She became still with the needle that was soaring above one of the fragile scars at my side. She inhaled before she answered me – steady, not trembling as if she had waited for that question and felt relieved for it finally coming. She pressed the needle into the scar tissue and it immediately began to bleed from it – not only from the puncture wound the needle made. I bit the inside of my cheek at the pain.

"When he finally had accepted that you weren't there – he tried to find someone else to fill the void with. He told me about how the aching emptiness of the soulmate bond haunted him during the nights when he didn't have anyone beside him… He changed girlfriends as some change underwear…" I felt how the feeling of being useless came over me again. "He was alone and he was crying – a lot. We had a thing for a short while, but without emotions involved. All he had to have at that time was someone to hold so he knew that he was alive" I didn't say anything – I could understand how Sans had felt during that time. I had had the same feelings as him and it was then I had found my comfort in the arms of Rick – and he had willingly opened them up for me. "Finally when he became stronger and trusted his judgment more, he helped so I could get into a university that accepted monsters. After I came in we talked to each other on the phone but we rarely met up and we never slept with each other again. I wanted to find a way to help him stop feeling empty and the best way to do that was to try to find the answer how human soulmate bonds and human magic effects monsters, and how the possible effects could be reversed" She was silent for a short while. "I'm sorry"

I shook my head and sighed.

"I don't blame neither you or Sans… You both searched something to comfort your feelings… I did the same after I left all of you…" She pressed out the content of the shot in a testing tube and marked it with my name.

"I have to run some tests on your blood before I can give you an answer if my treatment can help you or not. I'll go to the lab and run it tonight – it should be ready by tomorrow" She picked her things together and put them into her bag. I began to dress.

"And Syl?" I turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad that you're back" she smiled at me and I gave her a genuine smile.

"And so am I"

* * *

 

The night had fallen and stars were sending their light down to earth even though many of them were already dead – but their final dying light hadn't reached the eyes of the humans and monsters yet.

Ab stared out into the distance as he tried to focus through blinking neon signs and headlights from cars down below. It had been so long now since he last had seen his wife – or rather his previous wife as she had remarried. Now he was out searching for her and he didn't have any idea where she could be, not even how she looked like. He knew that she was a master of manipulation when it came to trick the eye. He ran his hand through his hair. Where was she?

Suddenly Gaster was standing beside him up on the rooftop where Ab was trying to focus. The pale man that he saw as his brother had been much calmer in his mind than he had been for a very long time. The talk he had had with Ab's daughter had given him peace in his mind.

"Have you found anything?" Ab asked his friend. Gaster shook his head and sighed. They had been searching for Chartom since this morning and still nothing. Ab sighed. He was kind of relieved over that answer. He didn't know how he would explain to his former wife who he was and why he was back in this world.

"What is running through your head, my friend?" The pale skinned man glanced over to the giant beside him.

"What I'm going to say to her when I meet her. How I should explain everything to her…"

"And what are you going to say?" Gaster asked as he brushed away some dust from his sleeve.

"I don't know yet..." Ab ran a hand through his hair. This had become more difficult than he had imagined.

Gaster just looked at Ab – and Ab knew that it would be hard for Gaster too to meet the woman he once had loved. He had failed to recognize her and that had later led to Sylfaen's fall and Gaster's death. Ab inhaled deeply before he looked at his friend and opened his mouth.

"I saw a bar down the street – a bit shady but I think we both need something to drink" Gaster looked at him and furrowed his eyebrow.

"Is there a time when you don't think about drinking?" He asked his friend. Ab laughed – a laugh that came deep down from his stomach.

"I'm alive again and I want to test every beer that this world has to offer before I die and is erased from time" he answered. Gaster sighed and gave his old friend a tired smiled.

"Lead the way," he said and Ab pointed a corner down the street.

"Right behind that corner over there. If you can teleport us there – we can walk the rest of the way" Ab said. Gaster nodded and took a hold of the other man's jacket before he quickly opened up a rift into the void. Gaster had the ability to step through the rift and out on the other side of the distance was short enough – otherwise, he had to walk through the void and find the right place to step into the real world.

When the men came out on the street below the building they had been standing on the quickly looked around. This was the same neighborhood where Syl had been working and where she had been attacked before they showed up.

The street was empty and the neon sign further up the walkway flashed in a pattern that indicated that a few of the lamps was about to die – a few had already done so. Ab quickly shoved his hands down the pocket so his jeans while Gaster was content just to let his right hand rest in the right pocket of his coat. The other one he used to sign that Ab should lead the way. The air was damp down there and the pavement was wet and the holes were filled with water, somewhere in the distant a car alarm could be heard as someone opened it up without permission from the owner. Gaster thought that the scene looked like it came from an old crime novel – and they were the detectives that were investigating and searching for clues. He chuckled a little.

Ab opened up the door into the bar that was clouded and filled with smoke. At the counter stood an old man that almost reminded him of Grillby. Gaster looked at his friend that had stopped and scanned the surroundings – something was bothering him and he was trying to find the source. Gaster gently pushed his shoulder to tell him that he had to move forward. Ab snapped out of his chase and moved his eyes towards the bartender. They locked eyes and when Ab moved forward he held up his hand in a greeting towards the old man.

"Hey there. One beer and a whiskey" he said. The old man nodded and put away the glass he was whipping, before he bent down under the counter and picked up a bottle of beer, opened it and reached it to him before he turned around.

Ab took a swing at the bottle and grimaced at the taste – this was not one that would go on his favorite list. They paid for their drinks and found a table in a corner where they had a good view over the room. Ab let his gaze wander through the dimly lit room as soon as he sat down. Gaster looked confused at him leaned a bit towards his friend and whispered.

"What is it?" Ab didn't turn his gaze to Gaster.

"Can't you feel it? Magic, and well hidden at that" he whispered and Gaster raised his eyebrow. Magic? Here? He closed his eyes and focused. At first, Gaster thought that Ab had lost it, but then he felt something lurking beneath the fabric of reality – something sparkling with magic.

"Yeah, I can feel it…" He started to look around. There were a few humans and no monsters in the room. Why would a human hide their magic from other humans if they weren't afraid that the wrong kind of humans would find them? Gaster knew only one that had been that good at hiding their ability and so did Ab.

"She's here…" Ab said and took another sip from his bottle. Gaster nodded. He knew it too. Chartom was in this very room with them – she had been here and they hadn't known or felt it before they stepped into the bar. If they hadn't they would never have found her in this large city with magic-wielding monsters a few lucky humans. Gaster tried to find the person that Chartom had disguised herself as, but it was harder than he thought. He sighed and turned to Ab.

"Which one is her, though?"

Ab let his gaze wander from man to man. He knew this feeling – he had been bound to it until the day he died and he hadn't forgotten about it. This warm tingling feeling of magic that had the ability to wrap him around her finger. The warmth of her energy he associated with love. Ab sighed – he and Gaster had hidden their magic as soon as they had left the roof – just for protection as they knew that there were monster hunters looking for them. He would try one thing and hoped that it would work. The bar was completely silent – just a jukebox playing in the background. He took a deep breath and let the barrier that shielded his soul and hoped that Chartom would recognize it.

A sudden gasp was heard from a woman sitting by a window in ragged clothes and stripped blond hair. She looked like a homeless woman and Ab now knew that it was Chartom. She had always been a master of disguise.

The woman looked around but her eyes didn't stop at Gaster nor Ab – she didn't recognize either of them. That was understandable as she only knew them from the way they looked like as monsters. Neither of them would ever have though that monsters would come back from the dead as humans.

Chartom, the woman in disguise, quickly rose from her place at the window and left the building. Ab followed her with his eyes – he didn't want to lose the sight of her again.

"Go, you need to handle this on your own – I'll wait here if anything happens" Gaster suddenly with a lower voice that told Ab that it was painful for him too. Ab nodded, drank one last time from the bottle and left it on the table.

Ab had a bad taste in his mouth and he knew that something would go wrong – there wasn't anything that was easy when it came down to Chartom.

* * *

 

_I looked at myself in the mirror and felt my heart sink at the sight of me. The monster part of me was skeleton and bones. An eye socket and a human eye. My spine showing off at the back. The purple hair that was hanging in long wet strands after the shower. Half human, half monster. This was who I was. I didn't want to see this part me. All I wanted was to be left alone. A sudden knock on the door woke me up from my stare._

_"Child, Sans will be here any minute. You should come out and get dressed. Papyrus is eager to get you in that dress he bought you for this occasion" Toriel's voice echoed between the white tiled walls in the bathroom._

_"I'm coming!" I said and quickly brushed and braided my hair. When I came out I went to my room and picked up the navy blue dress that would go down to my knees and showed my shoulders. I sighed. Papyrus knew I didn't feel comfortable to show my bones. Apparently, I would have to let the thought of the braid go so my hair could give me some coverage._

_Sans, Papyrus brother, would finally come and visit – much to the other skeleton's delight. He had finally set in at his new apartment and at work and now he wanted to meet everyone again. He was friends with my whole so called family. Papyrus had said that his brother would be delighted to meet me. I suspected that Papyrus was trying to match me up with his brother – because he had told me that his brother was still single and he hadn't had a girlfriend in years. I had talked to Papyrus about it. What would make him think that his brother would even look my way twice after he seen me – I was a half breed and no one looked at me twice. Papyrus had blushed at that and looked away. I smiled inside – he had been such a sweetheart._

_After I put some make-up on I went outside my room and saw Frisk ran passed me into the kitchen where both Toriel and Asgore were preparing the last things for the dinner. Alphys, Undyne, and Papyrus were sitting in the living room as they waited – and talked about Alphys' work together with Sans. I took a deep breath as I felt the stress running off of me. I was in a home where people loved for who I was. No one could take that away from me and would have to settle for that._

_Then why couldn't I push G out of my mind? It had happened just a few days ago and after I had come home – I had locked me up inside my room. I had cried and felt ashamed and embarrassment over what had taken place at the bar. I could still feel his breath on my lips, his taste on my tongue and his touch on my skin. Whenever I remembered that I felt a warm feeling rising up inside me and I could feel my skin getting warm and flustered._

_The sound of the doorbell interrupted my thoughts._

_"I get it!" I said in a loud voice and went to the front door down the hall. I opened the door and was met by a huge bouquet of roses – covering the person holding them. They were stretched out to me so I took them. Yellow roses – sun yellow roses and they smelled like the summer._

_"Thank you. You must be Sans. Please come … in" I said and stopped when I lifted my head and saw the monster standing there. It was G and he had an equally shocked look on his face as me before the smug grin of his came back. He had a pair of black jeans, a white turtleneck and the leather jacket hanging over his shoulder._

_"Hey, sweetheart, never thought I would meet ya' here," he said and went passed me into the hall. I just followed him with my eyes._

_"BROTHER! NICE TO FINALLY SEE YOU, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!" Papyrus came up behind me and smiled at him with joy and happiness. "AND YOU BROUGHT FLOWERS TO TORIEL TOO!" G scratched the back of his skull as he turned away to hang his jacket up._

_"Actually they are for the lovely lady ya' spoke to me about," he said and looked over his shoulder. His eyes intense and captivating. My heart decided that it was time to start a race inside me. Those eyes. I hid behind the bouquet in a try to hide my blushing face. Papyrus saw it though and he got a cunning smile on his face._

_"AH! I SHOULD INTRODUCE YOU TWO TO EACHOTHER. THIS IS_ ARAPHEL _FROM MT EBOTT. TORIEL TOOK HER UNDE RHER WING AFTER SHE FOUND HER ROAMING THE WOODS AROUND THE MOUNTAIN" he said and pushed me a bit closer to the other skeleton. "AND THIS CHARMING HANDSOME SKELETON HERE IS MY BROTHER; SANS GASTER" G smiled at me and took my hand._

_"Enchanté," he said and kissed my hand. Jolts of electricity went through me at the contact and I quickly pulled my hand to me._

_"N- nice to finally meet you. I – I have to put these flowers in a vase before they wilt" I stumbled over my words and turned around to walk quickly as possible to the kitchen. I could feel his gaze following me even though he was talking to Papyrus at the same time. This was going to be a long night._

* * *

 

_Was doing the dishes as the others were finishing their coffee. I had to get out of the dining room as soon as I could if I wanted to escape the gaze of Papyrus' brother. I hadn't anything during dinner other when I was spoken to. Papyrus had forced me to sit between him and G during dinner and to have him that close to me had made me nervous. The others thought it was because I rarely spoke to men others than them that loved in this household. It formed the thought that I was attracted to Papyrus' older brother – that I learned that he had a Ph.D. in quantum physics, and man was I attracted to him. Not only looks but brain too? Why did this happen to me?_

_Once during dinner, I had felt a light touch at my thigh and when I looked down I had seen G's hand feeling the fabric of the skirt of my dress. I had quickly looked up tried to hide the blush and focus on the conversation. Why had he done that? He didn't stop until I rose from the seat as I gathered up the dishes and went into the kitchen to make them. I was feeling nervous and longing feeling was felt below my belly button._

_As I was standing there in front of the sink, trying to calm down, someone came and put their hands on the counter on either side of me. I became stiff when I felt the breathing of someone right beside my ear._

_"Doin' okay there, pumpkin'?" G asked me with a low voice that made goose bumps appear all over my body. I dropped the plate into the sink and was about to scream in surprise if G hadn't put his hand over my mouth. "Sorry for scaring ya' but I don't think it would be a good idea for ya' to scream" He slowly let go and in the process, he touched my lips again. This was the third time in total._

_"W-what do you want?" I asked as I tried to pick up a plate from the sink._

_"To talk about what happened at the bar the other night" I flinched and he felt how I became uneasy about it. He turned me around and lifted my head up. His eyes were worried._

_"There isn't anything to talk about…" I said and pushed away his hand so I could move my head as I pleased. I pushed him away from me and took up the cloth I used to dry the dishes with. I turned my back to him so I didn't have to look at him._

_"But ya' see pumpkin', I think there is. I was about to kiss ya' when those idiots at the table in front of us said something very rude" I laid down the cloth to take another plate from the drying rack._

_"I would have pushed you away either way," I said as steady as I could. G chuckled behind me as he took the plate in my hand from behind and put it down._

_"Ya' see, I don't think so. Don't think ya' think I see how ya' react as soon as I'm near ya'?"_

_"I'm not your type, remember –" he put his hand on my hips. What was he doing all of a sudden? His touch electrifying. Paralyzing._

_"You reminded me of that when they said that you were_ filth _. Is that what ya' think? That I don't want ya' because you're a half breed?" He asked and I could feel how he fiddled with my hair. I nodded quietly. I didn't want him to see that I was affected by all this. He slowly turned me around and turned my head up towards him. His eyes were gentle and in them, I could see a yellow warm glow in them._

_"You'll soon learn, sweetheart, that I don't give a fuck about that. I've had my great share of both female monsters and humans. What difference would it make with a half-breed?" G's words were supposed to be encouraging, but they weren't._

_"Please just leave me alone…" I pushed him hard this time so I could walk away and into my room. I didn't even excuse myself for my behavior, locking the door and went straight to bed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been away for some time. I'm truly sorry for that. Work, life, and death do come around. I'm about to change work to another school, grading is taking its toll on me and one of my cats died just a month ago due to a heart attack. He was only seven years old... My fiancé and I are trying to cope with it... Our cats are like our babies as I have a hard time getting pregnant - so losing our dear Jack Daniel's was like losing a child... That's why this chapter is late - so late. I hope you can understand. 
> 
> Love you'll  
> PurpleNightSong


	18. Irritation

_I was walking down the street a cold night at the end of autumn. The rain was pouring down and my umbrella didn’t give me much coverage from the merciless drops of cold water, biting at my skin._

_I had had the last shift at the library and I had locked the building after me before I started my journey home – my new home. I could see the apartment that I now rented with its big windows and open space area. I could see myself sitting on the couch with a cup of warm tea and a good book._

_I had moved out from the Dreemurr-family after the incident with G at the dinner a few weeks ago. I did it because I didn’t want to run into G more than absolutely necessary and to do that I had to move out. Papyrus and Frisk were devastated that I left them behind. Papyrus wanted me to get along with his brother so badly and Frisk would miss our chats we had during the nights – but I had to leave them behind. They still came and visited me and I enjoyed their company and the few times I came to visit them I felt at ease. The very few times I met G we just said ‘hi’ and moved on – not mentioning anything about what happened._

_The rain intensified and brought me back to reality as I walked the street and I could see my building in the distance. Soon I would be able to enjoy a hot shower and a cup of tea._

_The street was empty and suddenly I felt a chill down my spine – and it wasn’t the rain that sent it. I stopped for a short while and then I heard them. Footsteps. Footsteps of two or three people and they were moving fast. I shuddered and began to walk again before I started to run towards the building._

_After that, everything happened so fast and my memory would never recover fully from the incident either. Someone grabbed my braid – pulling me back and throwing me back on the ground. All I would remember were the sound of fabric torn apart, my muffled screams and the hands that violated whatever integrity I still had left, and the pain. The pain burned through my body and I the only thought that passed me was that I wanted to die. The damage they inflicted on me would leave their scar – both mentally and physically. Bruises would remind me of what I had been through many weeks after. All I wanted… was to die._

_-_

_I stood in my hallway with the keys to the apartment in my hand, soaking wet and my clothes were torn apart. I couldn’t think of anything, my mind completely blank. What had I done? What had I ever done to deserve a treatment like that? The darkness never answered me. I dropped the keys to the floor and went to the mirror that I had hanging to my far right. I didn’t even flinch at the sight. The bone in my face was cracked, my lip cut and so was my eyebrow. Blood was smeared over my neck and a black eye was forming. Had I been hit? Bruises were slowly showing themselves over my neck and under the torn dress. The pain never left me and I could feel a pressure over my chest. I put my skeletal hand over where my heart would be and let my soul out. It manifested itself before my eyes and not even this sight made me tremble in fear or shock. The light from the red soul was slowly fading – shining just a little to cast a red dim light at the white bone. But what would had scared me wasn’t the fading light – but the soul filled with cracks and slowly drifting apart. I stood there looking at it – it contained so much magic and power, still, it was so fragile._

_A sudden knock on the door made me turn my head towards the dark wooden surface that shielded me from the outside world. The knock was frantic and, filled with panic and worry – like a call in hope of a response. My body moved on its own as I walked towards the door and listened at the knocking. I put my hand on the doorknob, twisting it and then opened the door._

_Outside my door stood G with a quite annoyed look on his skull. He had a cigarette in his mouth and he was leaning against the doorpost when I opened._

_“Where the hell have ya’ been girl?! Everyone’s worried about ya. Tori has gone –“ G stopped when he looked at my numb face, torn dress, bruised body and my soul that was beginning to shatter. “What the fuck has happened to ya’?” he asked - his voice cracked and I didn’t know if he was angry or sad._

_“Sorry” was all I could say. I looked at G his facial expression changed from annoyed to worry. He quickly pushed me inside and closed the door behind him. I stood still. I didn’t want to move at all. G turned to me and his face was devastated._

_“Ara, what happened?” he asked me again but softer this time. He walked towards me and he let a hand touch my face. His thumb caressing the bruised skin under my eye. Even though I was numb I could feel tears welling up in my eyes._

_“Nothing…” I whispered. I didn’t want to be a problem for anyone. G looked at me with a sad face – his hand warm against my skin._

_“This doesn’t look like nothing,” he said before he looked at my soul and his socket became black. It was as if he could add everything together when he saw my soul. “Who did this?”_

_“I don’t know…” I said and now everything fell apart for me. I fell to the ground as the pain seared through me. My strength was leaving me and I didn’t know what to do. G captured me so I didn’t hit the floor. Instead, he sat down – leaning against the wall and pulled me against him so I had his strong and warm chest against my back._

_“Ara, please talk to me,” he said in a panic as he wrapped his arms around me._

_“It hurts…” I whispered._

_“What hurts? Tell me so I can make it better”_

_“My soul…” He turned his gaze towards it and fear came over it. My soul’s light was slowly fading and the parts were drifting apart from each other._

_“Shit!” he said as he tried to find his phone. My mind was slipping away and I didn’t know what was happening around me. I could hear G talking on the phone – but I didn’t know what._

_“Ara, stay with me. Don’t close your eyes, pumpkin” he whispered as he reached his hand towards my soul. Had he already hung up? Why were my eyes so heavy?_

_When G’s hands reached my soul and slowly pressed every part together – I felt a warmth run through my body. A tingling feeling more electrifying then when he touched my bare skin. A moan slipped out between my lips._

_“I would pay anything to hear you do that sound again, pumpkin, but now is not the time,” he said. He sounded nervous… why was he nervous? Was there anything I had done?_

_“I… I must sew your soul together, okay? You’ll die otherwise. I'll let some of my magic sew it together. It may hurt a bit” he said. I just sat there in his embrace. He was so warm. Tears ran down my face and I turned my head towards his._

_“I’m scared… Make the pain go away” I uttered and at that, his eye flared up in flames just like the sun. The pain was tremendous as a string of magic sew itself through my soul – pulling the parts closer and I was about to scream if G hadn’t stopped me._

_I could feel his teeth against my lips and they moved against mine until they got a response – as he pressed his face against mine. A kiss – and it was better than I had ever thought._

_A warm feeling enveloped me and all I could feel was G; his touch, his thoughts, and his feelings. All I could feel was him until I passed out due to the exhaustion._

* * *

 

Chartom breathed hard as she tried to cool her nerves. She walked fast – away from that bar she had been hiding in and she had surely walked for about ten minutes now. That presence she had felt, must have been coincident. A human with a similar energy as _him._

She tried to calm herself down – it couldn’t be him. He had been dead for over two thousand years!

Something glistening in the night, like sun reflecting in the water, made her pull back right before a knife was flying by her – just a few inches from her face. She had been careless – they had caught up with her.

“Well, well, well – if it isn’t the runaway magician” a man’s voice came from the shadows with ragged clothes and a cold and stern look on his face. He was maybe in his forties with a red beard that had silver streaks in it. Wrinkles around the eyes told a tale about how this man once had laughed much but that laughter had faded long ago. Chartom gritted her teeth and tried to find out a way out of this mess. She had never been a woman that used physical violence – she always used magic when she could.

“Leave me be – I don’t want to hurt you,” she said with a voice stronger than she felt inside. The man laughed at her as he took another step – pulling out a knife, or was it maybe a dagger, from under his coat he was wearing.

“I don’t think so. I have my orders to bring you back and I will at least _try_ to bring you back alive. The others aren’t so picky about how you arrive – walking or in a body bag” he said and sighed. Chartom lets a growl escape her and she began to tremble as she tried to focus her energy – slowly building up a storm inside of her.

“Take one step closer and I promise that you never will see your wife and children again” she snarled. The man stopped in his tracks. His face filled with fear before it turned back to normal.

“You don’t scare me at all at this point – you’re not as strong as you once were. Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be” he said and took another step. Chartom conjured her magical strength and let the ancient words flow from her lips. The fire was slowly forming between her hand. She let it grow in strength.

“I may not be as strong as before but I still am the Magician of Kindness” Chartom stated to the man standing in front of her as the fair licked the skin of her fingertips. The warmth didn’t hurt her at all – but instead, it gave her a reassurance that everything would be okay in the end. The man's face turned sour when he saw the red colored flames twisting around the magician's hand.

"Don't you ever think that you can -" but suddenly he lost his words as he had to jump out of the way to dodge the huge bones that came out of the pavement like huge white worms with a deafening sound.

The magic surrounding them was thick and heavy to the head and chest and Chartom felt panic take a grip on her heart. The same kind of magic mixed with the essence of a soul she hadn't felt for a very long time.

"To attack a defenseless lady is not what I thought that monster hunters had fallen to. What has happened to the world where human scum like you have let yourself fall to such methods to get what you want?" A warm feeling was traveling down Chartom's spine as she heard that dark bust husky voice from long ago. It still could make her tremble. She slowly turned around and saw the man from the bar. His almost red eyes, the purple hair that was so much alike Araphel's, his broad shoulders. It was him – even though he was covered with skin, looking human for the first time. How could this be?

"Ab?" She whispered. It came out like a question even though she didn’t intend it to. He turned his crimson gaze to her and a smile crept up his face. His eyes still filled with the love he felt for her the day he died. Before he answered the hunter that had come after Chartom – came forth once more. He was running towards the human that once been a monster. Ab just looked at the man with a bored expression. He stretched out his arm and it began to glow with a crimson light. Chartom was speechless when she felt Ab's magic in the air.

"I thought you would be smarter than that" Ab's magic covered the other man and then all they could hear were terrible screams.

* * *

Sans looked at the text Cresta just had sent him. She couldn’t help Syl – her magic was sealed away with another kind of magic than that one that humans used. The treatment she had developed would be ineffective on her. Syl would be without magic. A sudden bang in his room made him understand that Cresta had called Syl and the half-breed wasn’t too pleased with the results. He sighed. All he wanted was to help his beloved one in this time of need. He knew that she felt hopeless – that she couldn’t anything at all. He slowly put his phone into his pocket again and turned his gaze towards his room again where the sound had come from.

Syl kicked his door opened and he could see how she grabbed her jacket before she went out – the door shutting behind her with a bang that made the decorations on the wall to shiver, a few of them even fell. She didn’t say a word to him – and Sans didn’t say anything. He knew that she had to be alone.

Alex came up beside Sans and took the skeleton's hand. He was worried about his big sister.

“Is she angry?” he asked his sister's soulmate. Sans looked down at the redhead and saw that his eyes began to have a shine of tears – Sans gave him a smirk and bent down to his level.

“No – she is upset over that she has lost the power she has to have to protect you” Sans uttered and looked into the green eyes that harbored that same kind of colored soul of his – the soul of kindness. Alex looked at Sans and he was thinking hard about something.

“Hey pal, a cent for your thought” Sans put a hand on Alex’s head and ruffled his red locks around.

“I’m always giving big sis trouble…” he said and tears welled up in his eyes. Sans was stunned. How could a seven-year-old feel things like that – or even think like that?

“No no no, champ,” Sans told him and whipped away a few stray tears that ran down the child’s chin. “You’re not giving her trouble at all. There are other people that give her trouble, people that want to hurt you or take you away from her. Your sister loves you very much – just as much as I love Paps, if not even more. She is frustrated because she wants to keep you safe and away from danger, but she feels that she really can’t do that right now. You’re not the problem and you know that” Alex looked into Sans’ white pinpricks and the tears stopped. He sniffled a bit and Sans could understand why Syl loved this tiny human. He reminded him of Frisk when they had been that age. This was Syl’s world and he had to protect this innocent little thing as much as he could too.

“Hey – what do you say about ice cream and some video game before Paps shows up and scold us that we eat junk before dinner?” Sans asked. Alex’ eyes became big and filled with that childish joy only a seven-year-old could display. The child lets go of his hand and ran out to the kitchen but groan in defeat when he saw Sans sitting on the counter. Sans smiled. This kid was part of her family and therefore he was under his protection as well. He would do anything to keep Alex and Syl from harm. Anything.

* * *

_She moved and the pain that went through her as she turned around in her sleep, woke her up from the sleep. She screamed in panic when she saw that everything was dark, rain hitting the window outside. Memories of the night before went through her and Ara couldn’t control her feelings at all._

_A sudden light and feelings of angst and worry went through her as a pair of arms was slowly wrapped around her. Someone started to rock her back and forth in her bed while she tried to gain control over herself. The smell of whiskey and cigarettes reached her nose and the fabric of the shirt that covered the skeleton’s arm seemed familiar._

_“I’m here, pumpkin, I’m here” someone whispered into her ear. It was G. She could feel the warmth coming from him – not only from the contact of their bones – but from inside her. Something was different, but what?_

_“W-what h-happened?” she asked with a crocked voice. G stopped and she could feel his skull against here – inside she could feel how he didn’t want to talk about it. He slowly took a deep breath – as if he wanted to process the smell of her hair._

_“Do we really need to talk about that right now?” he asked. His voice tired and filled with pain. Ara slowly turned her head and saw straight into the yellow eyes on the black background._

_“What happened after I came home, G?” I asked him. He sighed and dragged a hand over his skull._

_“We all hade been looking for you for hours. You didn’t answer your phone and no one had seen you since you left the job. I had been at your place before without results – but the last time I could see some lights from the hallway. When you opened you looked like a drenched cat. You… you were badly hurt – both on the outside as the inside. They… they” he couldn’t say it, but Ara knew anyway. Raped, she had been raped in that alley. “Your soul was cracked” he continued. “it began to drift apart. You were dying sweetheart” I looked at him with shock in my eyes. Dying. A soul that cracks and drifts apart can’t be saved._

_“How did you save me?” I asked and at the question, he turned his head away and I could see how a yellow tint covered his face. He was blushing._

_“G, how did you –“ but I stopped. A faint memory of him kissing me while a tremendous pain soured through me came back. I put a hand on my chest as I slowly pulled out my soul. It hurt but not too bad – the bruises on my body were worse. I looked at my damaged soul; full of cracks. Then I saw yellow – almost orange strings of magic wrapping themselves around and through the soul, keeping the parts together so they didn’t drift apart._

_“I was forced to sew your soul together. Your own soul is too weak to sustain itself. It has to have support from someone else…” I turned to him at that._

_“What kind of support, G?” I asked him as I turned away from the soul and towards him instead. The yellow-tinted blush became stronger and I knew that there was something he didn’t want to talk about. “What kind of support, G?” I asked again._

_“I had to make a soulmate bond with you to keep you alive” he whispered. I just looked at him. A soulmate bond. A commitment to stay together forever. He had given up his freedom to save me from death._

_“Why?” He turned to me with the warmest glow in his eyes._

_“I just couldn’t let you die”_

* * *

I walked down the sidewalk outside the apartment complex – as I had been for several hours. Cresta’s call had been the worst since forever as it felt. She had analyzed the sample she had taken from me – but there wasn’t anything her new treatment could do for me. The magic that blocked mine was something different than what she could treat. How would I ever be able to meet the Council without magic? I felt the frustration rage through me like a caged animal. I took up a cigarette and lighted it. I inhaled the smoke and felt it go straight down to my lungs – but the action that always helped to keep me calm before didn’t this time.

“That is a very bad habit you have there and I’ve told you that several times,” a woman’s voice said to me from behind. I quickly turned and saw my mother standing in the sunset together with my father and Gaster. The suns rays hit the copper red hair and made almost shine blood red – making her seem like a goddess. My father had his arm around her shoulder and I could clearly see the red mark on his skin after a hand. My mother must have slapped him after they met. She seemed a bit shaken but still collected.

“Chartom” I plainly said. I knew they would find her – and we needed her. It was only she who could teach Alex the magic he needed to know to protect himself. My father saw the cold look I gave my mother and he was uneasy. This was the first time in over two thousand years the family was complete and it shouldn’t be like this. Instead of love – there was nuclear winter. Ice age.

“Araphel,” my mother said back. I sighed. I had to surrender.

“We need your help. You must teach Alex you magic abilities. I’m blocked off to reach mine – I can’t protect him” My mother looked shocked.

“You’re blocked off?” Then her eyesight was drawn to a place at my waist. The wound had opened again. She went straight to me and pulled up my shirt and looked at the wound. “You’ve been cut by a hunter’s weapon, haven’t you?” she asked and looked at me. “The wound will barely heal before it reopens again and bleeds. All your magical powers are hindered by this – all your monster magic” I slapped her hands away.

“And? We’ve tried to heal it with Toriel’s magic but nothing helps” I snarled at her. She took a step back.

“I understand,” she said with a low voice. Gaster cleared his throat before he looked at the three of us.

“We should go upstairs. It is not wise to stand here and talk about such delicate things. What if the wrong ears hear what we are talking about?” I looked at the pale tall man that once been my lover. I nodded and turned my back towards my mother and father.

“This way,” I said and my feet began to make their way to the door that led to the stairs and the apartment.

* * *

I was sitting on the bed together with Sans and Frisk, in Sans’ room. Sans held my hand when Frisk tried to get some bandages on the wound that had reopened again. It was painful as the young human didn’t have Toriel’s magic nor the skill of that of a doctor.

“Just a little more,” Frisk said. I sighed and tried not to make a face about it, but it failed. Sans fingers caressed my hand – bone meeting bone and it soothed me a bit.

“You’re still irritated” he stated. I gave him a dark glance. He meant that my mother, father and little brother was sitting in the living room right now – playing house as if there weren’t any worries in the world. I snarled at the thought.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said and tried to ignore him. Sans chuckled a bit. I sent him a ‘ _piss-off’_ thought to shut him up.

“There!” said Frisk finally as they put away the leftovers after the bandage session. I pulled my shirt down over the newly attended wound and sighed in relief as they went out the room. Frisk went out first and Sans waited for me in the doorway.

“Are you coming?” he asked. I nodded at him and rose from the bed and went out.

I saw my little brother sitting on my mother’s lap as she rocked him back and forth in her arms. She sang a quiet song for her son and I remember it from my own childhood. I stopped in the doorway and listened – Sans beside me as he put an arm around my waist. My father sat beside my mother as she sang. My brother’s face stuffed between her chin and her chest. He had screamed in joy first before he broke down and cried. My brave little hero hadn’t shown me how much he had missed his mother – he had kept a strong face in front of me for my sake.

If a stranger from the outside came in to see what I saw right now – this could be a happy family scene; a mother and father, with their youngest child and the older one with her boyfriend. A family idyll. I looked at my brother and saw how happy he was – his soul was singing at the touch of his mother.

A sting of jealousy ran through me and Sans felt it as he turned his face towards me. I wanted that – I wanted a whole family. A family that wasn’t enemies or bicker or arguing. A picture flashed before me; me sitting outside my cottage at Monster Town – rocking a toddler in my arms as I sang the same song my mother had sung to me all those years ago. Purple hair and the most adorable little cheeks I’d ever seen on a baby girl. A child – a child that Sans and I had created. I felt Sans grip on my waist tightened as he whispered to me.

“When all this is over, babe, I promise I will give you so many babies you want” I looked at him in shock. Had he seen what I’d seen? This was the very first time I ever had thought about children and the more I thought about it the more my soul and heart longed.

“I’d like that,” I said quietly, and I could feel Sans soul sing to mine. He was happy that I wanted to build a family of our own, together with him.

My mother stopped singing when my brother had fallen asleep in her arms, but she kept rocking him. She had done this several times when he had been a newborn and we both knew that he felt most at ease when someone held him close.

Chartom looked up at me and nodded at the armchair, to tell me to sit. I gave her a eyesight that told her not to tell me what to do.

“I can stand here while you talk” my father gave me a stern look when I spoke. My mother looked at me before she spoke. Her green eyes turned from warm to cold and we measured each other with our eyes.

“You said that you couldn’t use your magic anymore” she stated. It was not a question. I nodded.

“Yes and that’s a big problem for us right now. I can’t protect Alex” Chartom’s eyes became distant as she let her mind travel.

“There may be a way in theory” I looked at her. “Monster hunter weapons are prepped with a special kind of magic that cut off monsters from their magic and later will kill them. It was very effective during the war. You’re part monster and that’s why you feel its effects”

“We already know this, what good –“

“But you’re also part human from my line – my line of mages and magicians. You have it in you to practice magic the old way – just like humans always has done” I went quiet. Would my mother teach me the old way of magic?

“Are you for real?” I asked her. She nodded.

“it won't be the magic of kindness – that I’ve given to your brother, but there’s strong defensive and offensive magic that I can teach you that isn’t connected to the soul and its qualities” my mother looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “It won’t be easy for you, you're older and you don’t have the inherited gift of magic like you brother. It will be easier for him as he –“

“Teach me,” I said and looked my mother in the eyes. She was shocked, I could see that.

“Are you sure?” My mother asked and I could see that she felt regret over many things that had happened to me during my lifetime, things that she had put me through.

“Teach me so I have a chance to protect my brother and everyone I care about,” I told her. My father and Sans looked at me. A small smile crept up his face when he saw the determination burn in my eyes. My mother closed her eyes.

“See it as a way for me to beg you for forgiveness for everything I’ve done to you” I nodded.

“If you do this for me – we’re even” My mother opened her eyes and I now saw why she had been the Head Sister of the Council once. She was stronger than she wanted to admit to anyone.

“We will start tomorrow before sunrise”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! long time no see!  
> I know that I 've not been posting anything since April 2017. Much happenden in my life until now. 
> 
> 1\. In april I lost my cat Jack Daniel's after seven years.
> 
> 2\. I got a chance at a new job - closer to home.
> 
> 3\. In june - when I went on vacation for the summer, my fiancé broke up with me after 9 years. I had a week to move out of the apartment we rented together. 
> 
> 4\. I was almost homeless during the summer. My mother and father helped me with my cats and my stuff while I slept on my firends couches during the time. 
> 
> 5\. I started the new job and felt uneasy - like I didn't belong there (I still feel it like that).
> 
> 6\. I got my own little hous out in the woods with my cats. 
> 
> 7\. In September I started to talk to a guy that reminds me a bit of G!Sans in a way. He lives a five our cardrive from me - but we love eachother and I feel that this is a man I could spend the rest of my life with. 
> 
> 8\. In october everything collasped for me. I went on sick-leave for 2 months and didn't go back to work until a few dasy before christmas. 
> 
> So that was my 2017. I think you guys can understand why my muse left me for so long - but I'm forcing her back on duty. I have mapped out the story from the first to the last written words so i can focus on the plotline and to get a feeling for the story once again. 
> 
> I beg for your forgivness but I had to take care of myself first. I will try to get chapter 18 out as soon as I can. 
> 
> Stay awsome!  
> PurpleNightSong ~<3


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